Ephrata soccer falls to Selah in penalty shootout
Ephrata High School junior Aliya Avila (3) faces off with a Selah player during the conference matchup on Thursday.
Rebecca Pettingill/Columbia Basin Herald
Ephrata junior Kaydence Hector (2) fights to keep the ball from Selah. The Tigers lost by one in a penalty shootout.
The Ephrata girls soccer team jumps and celebrates as a teammate makes a goal during the penalty kick shootout against Selah on Oct. 6.
Ephrata defender Anna Raine (16) keeps close to her opponent during the conference matchup against Selah.
EPHRATA - The Ephrata girls soccer team fell after a hard-fought battle against Selah Thursday night.
“By far the best we have ever played against Selah,” said Ephrata head coach Gary Klepec.
In a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in a penalty shootout, the Ephrata Tigers had been able to hold Selah off through both halves and two five minute sudden death overtime periods.
Selah led the penalty kick shootout and immediately scored the first two goals while Ephrata’s were either missed or blocked. Selah then had two blocked shots while Ephrata went on a three score run. Selah however made the next shot tying the two teams at each three out of five shots. The next shots would be sudden death. Ephrata did not make the following shot but Selah did, giving Selah a 1-0 victory over the Tigers.
“Honestly it's really rewarding and it almost made me want to cry a little bit,” said senior defender Addina Knudsen of the match. “It was just really good to experience it and watch how beautifully we played together. That's one thing we’ve been working on as a team is working together and it was just very rewarding to see us come together tonight.”
“This is the most in sync our team has played together in the last few years,” added senior goalkeeper Alivia Helaas.
Earlier this season, the Tigers fell to Selah 5-1.
“I knew it was going to be a tough fight, I knew it was going to be a good game. I just expected the girls to step up and play like they can play,” said Klepec.
In conjunction with how well they played against Selah that night, Klepec said it was the best they had played so far this year.
“The best we’ve played all season by far,” Klepec said of the game.
Klepec noted that this was the first game in a number of weeks they had their full roster because they had a couple of girls out with injuries and eligibility issues.
“We started out strong, then we went through where we had some injuries, we had some sickness, so we dropped a few games that we should’ve won,” Klepec said. “And now I feel like we’re strong, I think we’re on the rise.”
Over the weekend, the team also took on Othello in a 3-0 loss to the 7-4 Huskies.
“We’ve got East Valley left, which is a super strong (team),” said Klepec. “Kind of like Selah, Selah is in second in the league behind East Valley.”
The Tigers take on East Valley on Oct. 13 at home at 6 p.m.
Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.
