By MIKE BALDWIN
For The Reporter
The Kentridge High boys soccer team watched its state tournament chances vanquish in thin air on Saturday in Graham.
All it took to abruptly end the Chargers’ season was a miscue on defense at their goal, allowing Gig Harbor to claim a 1-0 victory at Art Crate Stadium in a West Central District winner-to-state, loser-out game. A victory would have secured Kentridge’s first appearance in the state tournament since 2004.
But the Tides had plans of their own.
“We let situations during the game get to us more than anything else,” said Kentridge coach Glenn Walrond. “We let the situation get to our heads and it took us out of what we wanted to do, which was to finish.”
The game was scoreless until the 65th minute, when Robby Ubben tallied the game’s lone goal, essentially sealing Gig Harbor’s state berth.
The Chargers missed on several offensive opportunities and made a crucial mistake late in the game.
Kentridge goalkeeper Alex Ferguson was in the middle of a crowded goal when the Tides pushed the ball deep into Charger territory. Ferguson assumed a defender would clear the ball, but instead Ubben capitalized on the mistake and slipped the ball through the puzzled defense.
“There was just a miscommunication,” Walrond said. “We thought we would get the ball securely to the keeper, a player ran into the keeper and we didn’t recover quick enough.”
Walrond commended Ferguson’s performance Saturday and admitted that the error is common in soccer, but came at an unfortunate time as Kentridge saw its season end in a 1-0 defeat. Ferguson was confused by the sequence of events and didn’t realize Ubben’s position with the ball until it was too late.
“I thought Alex did really well,” Walrond said. “He thought the defender was going to get it, the ball bounced in, and they ran into each other.”
Kentridge (11-4-3) entered the district tournament as the SPSL’s No. 3 seed coming off a 3-2 victory over Beamer. But the Chargers looked flat on the offensive side of the ball as Scott Geffre and Sean Dunn failed to find the net on a hot day at Bethel High. Gig Harbor (12-5-2) totaled nine shots to the Chargers’ four.
“We played 60 minutes really well, and then we let situations get to us,” Walrond said. “We let the situation rule us rather than us ruling the situation, and that’s very disappointing.”
To reach Mike Baldwin, e-mail Reporter staff writer Erick Walker at ewalker@kentreporter.com
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