Lady Indians lose district soccer playoff

Tribe girls’ soccer team finishes with loss to OES

By John Brewington

The South County Spotlight, Nov 10, 2009

BACK AT YA’—Scappoose’s Hayley Tuttle clears the ball from the goal area during last Tuesday’s playoff game with OES.

John Brewington / The South County Spotlight

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The Scappoose girls gave it a hard go, but beating Oregon Episcopal School on Tuesday night Nov. 3 proved to be a daunting task.

The game was played on OES’s turf field on a cold, windy night. They scored in the first three minutes off a short corner kick, bending the ball into the closest upper corner. Scappoose would never equalize the game, but stayed in it until the last 15 minutes. At that point OES added an insurance goal.

The match was to determine the number three seed for the state 4A/3A/2A/1A playoffs. Catlin Gabel won the district and Valley Catholic was second.

“The game was hard fought all the way,” Scappoose Coach Chris Dorough said. “OES put in an early goal off a short corner, so we had to play from behind all night. The second goal was off a penalty kick in the second half.”

He added, “Our girls played all out, but OES had a huge advantage since the game was on turf and they practice on it. We had our chances but couldn’t find the back of the net.”

Scappoose made several runs at a goal, but OES controlled the ball much of the match limiting Scappoose chances. A strong, biting wind also limited play for both teams, sending the ball high or wide of intended scores.

The game marked a spectacular season for the Lady Indians. It was their first real chance to make the state playoffs. They had tied OES, 2-2, earlier in the year, but play in a tough district with schools from four classifications–4A/3A/2A/1A. Catlin Gabel won district again this year. The school won the first 13 state championships in the class, until OES broke the string in 2005. Catlin Gabel is back on track to add to their total.

“It’s sad we both don’t go on since OES now plays a team that’s under .500 on the year and we have 10 wins,” Dorough said. (Special) District 1 is by far the best league in the state.”

“I’m very proud of the team,” he noted. “We went from five wins last year to 10 this year. Every single girl worked hard, and the seniors provided great leadership. Last year we scored 16 (goals) and gave up 31, compared to 49 and 11 this year. We will miss our seven seniors next season but we also have a great group of girls returning next season.”