Mercer Island downplayed its matchup with Skyline Friday, March 20 as merely a preseason affair.
But after a gritty, back-and-forth nonconference match that ended in a 2-2 tie, the contest had all the elements of a crucial league game, minus of course the overtime periods.
With a goal from Randy Hilleary in the 73rd minute, the Spartans escaped a loss to Mercer Island Friday night at Skyline High School. Both coaches and players on the Islander bench felt they let one slip away.
“I’m happy with the performance, but I’m unhappy with the result,” coach Colin Rigby said. “We’re OK with the result for preseason. If it was regular season, I’d be a little bit more perturbed about it because I do think that we probably deserved that one.”
Coming off a season-opening loss to Redmond, the game was the Islanders’ second against a 4A opponent before beginning KingCo competition. Though neither team appeared to be in preseason mode.
Don Braman’s Spartan crew looked very much in control from the outset, weaving with ease through the Mercer Island defense. After a Skyline corner kick in the ninth minute, Islander goalie Matt LeProwse struggled to corral a jump ball, which Skyline’s Sergio Palomino put in the net to give the Spartans a 1-0 advantage.
Rigby took umbrage with the play, saying he thought LeProwse was bumped as he attempted his leaping grab.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I get rattled over it if it has a major impact in the game like that, but it’s a preseason game.”
Mercer Island dialed in its attack and began creating more offensive opportunities. The Islanders saw an attempt by Kisho Fukuoka bounce off the right post in the 25th minute. In the 27th, Lucas Meek scored off a cross to the left side to even the score 1-1, and the momentum appeared to shift in favor of the Islanders.
“It was a major boost getting that tying goal,” Rigby said. “I think everybody got behind it and started playing overall much better.”
Mercer Island continued its aggressive attack in the second half and traded shots with the Spartans, but couldn’t convert on a couple corner opportunities. In the 69th minute, a Ryan Hill strike from the right side ricocheted off the near post and into the net to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.
The Spartans responded, rapidly advancing down the field on their ensuing kickoff. Following a Skyline foul kick in the 73rd minute, the Spartans’ Randy Hilleary found the back of the net to tie the game 2-2.
Both teams continued to be aggressive in the game’s final minutes and had scoring opportunities down the stretch, the penultimate coming with Skyline’s Daniel Luis Miller breaking through the Mercer Island defense with the final two minutes winding down, but Miller saw his attempt sail wide right. As it was a nonconference matchup, no overtime was played.
Although feeling like one had gotten away, Rigby said he was primarily concerned with the season ahead.
“The goal from the beginning of the season is to use these games to propel us into the regular season,” Rigby said. “KingCo is going to be a very difficult regular season. If our intention is to win KingCo, and first or second place, then we need to win every KingCo game we can.”
Mercer Island opens KingCo competition against Interlake at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 24th at Interlake High School.
Ryan Hill prepares to shoot during the second half of Mercer Island’s game against Skyline Friday, March 20th at Skyline High School (Maria Sims/Special to the Reporter).
