Varsity - BHS vs Inglemoor 11-4-25

Bellevue 3-0 Inglemoor

9th min Raina (Saleen)
30th min Paris (Saleen)
66th min Raina (Kasia)

I live in a musical household. My wife studied music in college, and both of my daughters share her love of musical theater. So when the musical Hamilton was big, and my kids needed constant carpooling, it got heavy rotation in every car ride we took. Obviously it was one of the most popular musicals (if not THE most popular), because the story, music and lyrics are excellent, and soooo very American: hard-working, smart and ambitious immigrant in our pre-Revolutionary era makes good despite challenges and mistakes (and heartbreak) IS the American dream, and that theme is established from the opening moments of the first Act, especially with the song "My Shot" when a young Alexander declares "I am not throwin' away my shot..." 

Taking opportunities is a complex mix of planning, work, preparation, vision, grit, will, courage and luck. As a team, we've spent two months controlling what we can (rest, diet, sleep, homework, training design, scheduling, team bonding, physical therapy, fun, etc.) so that we have the best possible probability to achieve our goals when the time is right, and the opportunity presents itself. The 3A Kingco Championship was one of those opportunities. And we didn't throw away our shot. 

We earned the trophy by beating Inglemoor who have been doing their best Cinderella impression late in the season, winning their first Kingco playoff game 4-3 in a shootout vs Highline, before upsetting 2nd seed Liberty in their semi-final 2-1 to take their place in the Kingco Championship. The Vikings are playing their best soccer when it matters most, so we gave them the respect they deserved, did our video review homework, worked hard in practice, and built a game plan that we thought would give us our best chance of winning. We opened the scoring in the 9th minute, as Saleen set Raina free down our right wing with a tidy pass at midfield and our senior captain did the rest, outracing her defender and casually depositing the ball into the far corner. 1-0 Bellevue. In the 30th minute, Saleen was taken down on the far edge of the penalty box on our right side, free kick. "Blob far" and "Kenergy" gave us the look we wanted and Paris finished from six-yards from a clean cross from Saleen. 2-0 Bellevue. From the training ground, to the game. Perfect. Finally, in the 64th minute, Kasia latched onto a clearance in our defensive third and sprinted directly at the nearest Inglemoor defenders. Then past the defender. And 60 yards later Kasia whipped a cross towards the back post where Raina was waiting (having made her own 60 yard sprint) to hammer home from the doorstep. Textbook counter-attack and breakaway. 3-0 Bellevue. Coaches love it when their teams score a wide variety of goals: build up possession-based goals: check. Set-piece goals: check. Counter-attack fast-breaks in transition: check. This team can score in a lot of different ways.  

But most importantly, we are getting very stingy in allowing shots and goals. In the Championship, we created 19/4 vs. 2/2 vs. 56%/44% shots/corners/possession advantages. Very stingy. And when we do allow a shot, Katelyn is up for the challenge. Against Inglemoor, it was after a rare hiccup from our backline that gifted Inglemoor a free shot at goal from 12 yards, but Katelyn closed the distance between her and the shooter rapidly, made her body as big as possible, and smothered the chance before it became the catalyst for an Inglemoor comeback. Awesome. November soccer isn't always the prettiest soccer due to weather conditions, but playing dedicated and stingy team defense is effective at any time of year.  

Going into the State tournament, we have a 11-3-3 record, 41 goals scored and only 13 against in 17 games (7 shutouts) in a schedule that challenged us the entire year (no cupcakes). 

With our Kingco title, we have now qualified for the 3A State Tournament. On Sunday, November 9th, the seeding committee will meet to seed all 20 qualified teams into the tournament bracket. The top 4 seeds earn home-field advantage until the Final Four which is hosted at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup every year. We want to go to Sparks. Given our current RPI (#2), strength of schedule, and key wins (Issaquah, Woodinville, Eastside Catholic, etc.), it is likely that the committee will vote for us to be a top 4 seed (but not guaranteed, remember, the school name on our jersey isn't beloved in all corners of our state). Which means: we will likely host a Round of 16 game at Bellevue Stadium on Friday, November 14th (time TBD). With the winner of that game playing the quarterfinal the next day, Saturday, November 15th at 6pm. The Final Four schedule has semi-finals on Friday, November 22nd, with the State Final on Saturday, November 23rd. Four potential games left, so our magic number is now 4.

We'll send the seeding committee results out to the group as soon as it is available.            

Given the long break until our next game, we will use the time for some rest and recovery. No training today, light training on Thursday, and no practice on Friday. I'm hopeful that the team will use the long-weekend judiciously. We'll resume our regular pattern of training next week beginning on Monday once we know our pathway through the State tournament.  

Congratulations to each member of the team, the coaching staff, Kinley and her merry band of ankle tapers, booster club parents, and to each supporter who has invested their time to follow this team's journey so far.  Thank you. 

(why are some of us holding up 5 fingers in our post-game photo? We are the first Kingco 3A team to win 5-consecutive championship titles (breaking the record set by last year's team 🙂))