Islanders season ends with penalty kick loss | Prep soccer
Published 11:21 am Thursday, May 12, 2011
It wasn’t a pretty game, battled on the turf in pouring rain, and at the end of 80 minutes the season was over. Lake Washington beat Mercer Island during the KingCo tournament title match last Wednesday with a 1-0 final score.
“I just hope they had a great season and enjoyed what they did,” said Islander head coach Steve Newman. “Overall we did fairly well, but we should have done better.”
After a brutal first 34 minutes during which Mercer Island controlled most of the pace and possession, Lake Washington senior Taylor Stapf took the ball and sprinted for 60 yards down field. He was tripped up in the Islanders goal box, giving the Kangs their first big chance of the night – a penalty kick. With just under six minutes on the clock, the Kang’s Justin Manao lined up his shot and blasted it past Islander goalie Nico Terentjev for the 1-0 lead.
“This game we got the one goal lead and then just held on for dear life,” said Lake Washington head coach Shaun Warner.
Despite the goal, the Islanders controlled most of the ball possession for the rest of the game, edging ever closer to hitting the net in the second half, but could never put together the right combination to get past Lake Washington.
“We possessed the ball probably 70-30 and it just didn’t go our way,” said Newman. It was just the fourth game this season when the Islanders didn’t score. They finished the season with a 10-4-2 record.
