Huskies take down Tigers in penalty shootout

EPHRATA — It took penalty kicks to decide the winner of Saturday’s Central Washington Athletic Conference district tournament game between Othello and Ephrata, with the Huskies outscoring the Tigers 2-1 in the penalty shootout.

A defensive effort by both sides saw Ephrata and Othello go into overtime tied at zero.

“I knew it was going to be a game like this, because (Ephrata) knows what’s at stake, we know what’s at stake — we were just battling the whole game,” Othello coach Victor Quiroz said. 

Ephrata senior Alessa Soto opened the shootout with a goal, but Othello goalkeeper Emi Pruneda blocked the next three Tiger attempts. Huskie senior Stephanie Gonzalez scored on Othello’s third attempt, and after an Ephrata miss, Othello junior Grace Rocha won the game for the Huskies on a shot to the left side of the net.

“Hats off to Emi (Pruneda), she’s first team for a reason and she showed it today,” Quiroz said. “She showed it today with blocking those three PKs. (She said) ‘Quiroz, if we go to PKs, we’re going to win it.’ That’s what she told me before we went into PKs.”

Pruneda said her saves in the shootout came down to standing pat with her decision on where to move for the shot.

“I went in with the mentality of ‘Just try your best, pick a side,’” Pruneda said. “When it comes down to PKs you have a split second to decide which way you’re going to go. You just pick a side, stick with it and give it your all.”

After a quiet first half, the Tigers came out swinging to begin the final 40 minutes of the game, recording eight shots on Othello’s net from the 50th to 60th minutes of the game. While Ephrata was able to get shots off throughout the game, many of them were on the outskirts of the penalty area.

“We’ve had a little bit of trouble finishing all season long, except at Ellensburg (when) we put four in the second half,” Ephrata coach Gary Klepec said. “It’s just tough to finish, and they have a really good keeper. We just didn’t quite put it together as far as getting it in the back of the net.”

Quiroz said he was fine with the Tigers taking deep shots with his faith in Pruneda at keeper.

“I told them anything outside the 18, 20 (yards out), we’ll take those shots any day because I trust Emi (Pruneda) and I trust her back there,” Quiroz said. “We had a few opportunities to counter, but we just couldn’t finish.”

In the second overtime period, Ephrata had a near-scoring chance in front of the Huskie net that was broken up by junior Bella Garza, keeping the game at a 0-0 tie and going into a shootout.

“I just tried to get the ball away from the net,” Garza said. “I didn’t want them to score, and then us lose and be all sad.”

With the win, Othello moves on to face Prosser for the fourth time this season; the Huskie’s most recent match against the Mustangs was a 1-0 loss in the first round of the CWAC district tournament.

“That loss to Prosser, even though it was a 1-0 loss, we were in the game pretty much the whole game,” Quiroz said. “They didn’t score until the 20th minute. They’re third in the CWAC, so if we can keep up with them, we can keep up with anybody.”

Ephrata’s season ended with the loss, finishing the year with an 8-11 mark. The Tigers will graduate seven seniors off of their roster; Soto, defender Karissa Cleveringa, forward Emily Ellsworth, forward Aliya Avila, midfielder Kendall Laugen, forward Trishelle Lopez and defender Leslie Sanchez Guerrero.

“It’s been a pleasure to coach such good girls,” Klepec said. “It’s tough to coach them for four years and not have them go a little bit further.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

OTH: 0-0; PKs: 0-0-1-0-1 2

EPH: 0-0; PKs: 1-0-0-0-0 1

    Ephrata senior Alessa Soto (14) moves upfield with the ball against Othello.
  

    Othello senior Naraiah Guzman, in white, works against the Tiger defense in the first half Saturday.
  

    Ephrata senior Aliya Avila (3) makes a run toward the Othello net in the second overtime period against the Huskies.