West Central District 2A Tournament
Semifinal: Sequim vs. Foster
When: 5:30 p.m.
Where: Bonney Lake High School (Bonney Lake)
Winner advances to 3rd/6th place game, state tourney
It took a couple of weeks, but a tweak to Sequim’s approach has the Wolves heading into the West Central District tournament with plenty of momentum.
“At the start of the year we were kind of trying to wedge our players into a style that wasn’t fitting them,” Sequim head coach Dave Brasher said. “We decided to change that up.”
Good thing, too, as Sequim raced to a five-game winning streak and the Olympic league’s No. 2 seed to districts.
The Wolves (8-4 in league play, 11-5 overall) take on Foster in a loser-out district game at Bonney Lake High School on May 12.
The winner of the Sequim/Foster game goes on to play the loser of the Kingston-Lindbergh matchup on May 14. The winner of the May 14 game is the district’s No. 3 seed to the state 2A tournament, while the losing squad takes the No. 6 seed.
Sequim posted nine wins in their final 10 games after struggling a bit out of the proverbial gate.
“We lost Eli Berg in the middle (to graduation),” Brasher noted. “He was a true center midfielder with great skills and vision. We didn’t have that (this season), but what we do have is strength and speed up front. We just needed to get the ball to the them.”
That and injuries took a toll at the beginning of the season as senior defender Christian Benson was hurt early on.
“We kind of had to work through that,” Brasher said, “and (goalkeeper) Austin (Wagner) has been playing really well.”
With starter Patrick McCrorie going down with an injury, Brasher has asked his center midfielders to play more defense. It’s paying off. Wagner and the Wolves’ defense has blanked opponents in each of the last four games, including a key, 1-0 win against North Kitsap on April 28 and a 2-0 regular season-ending win against Olympic on May 5.
Against Olympic’s Trojans, Konnor Parrish netted a score and Josiah Urquia scored an insurance goal late.
League tiebreaker goes Sequim’s way
With Sequim’s five-game streak, the Wolves finished in a tie (by record) with North Kitsap for second place in the Olympic League behind Kingston and won the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed.
That’s key in that North Kitsap now faces two loser-out contests and at best can manage the fifth seed to state.
Foster finished 5-6-3 in the Seamount League and 5-7-3 overall this spring.
“It looks like they’ve done similar to us; they’ve played better at the end of the year,” Brasher noted; the Bulldogs are 4-1-1 in their last six games.
“They get a lot of skilled players (but) have had problems in the past playing as a team,” Brasher said. “It’ll be a tough match.”
Sequim started the week with a fine send-off to its seniors in a 3-0 win against Bremerton, led by one of its own playing his final home game.
Cameron Chase scored a hat trick and Wagner had three saves to earn his third consecutive shutout.
Chase opened the scoring in the 12th minute off an assist by senior Thomas Winfield. It stayed 1-0 until SHS’s Urquia kicked the ball into the corner where Lane Danielson crossed it toward the goal and Chase knocked it into the goal with his chest.
Chase capped the scoring on a penalty kick in the 75th minute.
Olympic League standings (final)
Team Lg. Over.
Kingston 11-1-0 14-1-1
North Kitsap 8-4-0 8-4-2
Sequim 8-4-0 11-5-0
Port Angeles 7-5-0 9-6-1
Bremerton 6-6-0 7-8-1
Olympic 2-10-0 2-13-0
North Mason 0-12-0 2-14-0
