There was still a bit of drama left in the Great Northern League where East Valley needed a point to win the league outright in their final game Saturday. Sitting tied with local rival and reigning two-time regular season champion West Valley, the Knights took care of business with a big win over third-place Clarkston to finish as champions after coming up two points short a year ago and a single point shy in 2013. It is the first time they finished atop the table since 2010.
Five different players scored for the Knights in the win, allowing Ashley Meyer of West Valley to finish as the league's top goal scorer with 11 tallies, two better than EV's Skylar Bastin. The Knights do boast, however, the best defensive record in the region with six shutouts to their credit - all from Kari Bromley - and were the only team in the league to score in every match.
The seeding in the GSL remained pretty much unchanged from the final night of action with the exception of Mead, which fell 2-0 to University and allowed Central Valley to slip ahead of them on tiebreakers going into the 4A District tournament. Mead's Alea Acosta, however, remained the league's top goal scorer with nine on the season, edging out Alexis Murphy of Ferris and Larkin Russell of Gonzaga Prep, who each finished with eight. Murphy scored once in the Saxons finale and Russell registered a brace as the Bullpups topped leading 3A side Mt Spokane 3-1.
Despite the loss, the Wildcats finished as the top 3A school, finishing two points better than the combined 14 (seven each) posted by North Central and Shadle Park. They swept their fellow 3A sides this season with an aggregate score of 14-1.
Down in the MCC, Southridge edged their fellow 3A foe Hanford by two wins for the league title at 13-1 when things were all said and done, the lone defeat coming in a shootout at home with Hanford October 3. The top three in the league, in fact, hailed from the lower classification with Kamiakin also reaching double digits in wins at 10-4.
Chiawana won the top seed among the 4A schools with ease at 9-5, besting Richland by four wins. Their leading scorers, however, were the top two in the league in goals with Braydey Hodgins registering 21 and Summer Yates 15. The team lead the league in scoring with 52 goals.
Heather Donais and Maddie Morgan of Kamiakin were the top goal scorers out of the 3A schools in the MCC with 11 each, but their team's defense was one of the best in the region with 11 shutouts in 14 games, many of which were shared between Grace Wilbur and Rachel McClure. Tiara Valadez of Southridge led the way with complete game clean sheets, posting seven among the school's eight for the campaign as the Rams finished with just five goals allowed this season. Kamiakin was second with 10 given up.
** CHECK OUT BRACKETS BELOW **
Still in league play this week is the all-4A Columbia Basin Big Nine, which will take the field Tuesday and Thursday, and the Northeast A League.
West Valley (Yakima) holds a two-win lead in the CBB9 over Wenatchee, which will likely go unchanged considering the opposition on the calendar. The most intriguing contest among the four games for the two sides in Thursday's match at third-place for Wenatchee, who holds a similar two-win margin over their upcoming hosts.
In the NEA, first place is still up for grabs between leaders Deer Park (9-1) and Freeman (8-2). The two sides square off in their season finale Thursday at Deer Park, but the Stags have the advantage with a three-point lead and a Tuesday contest against 1-9 Colville while Freeman plays feisty Lakeside (6-4), which handed the Scotties one of their two losses this season, 1-0, on the first of the month.
Across the border in Idaho, the state crowned its champions over the weekend. It was a tough week for the schools from northern Idaho as none of them were able to claim a title and three settled for runners-up trophies. The Lake City girls (5A), Lakeland boys (4A) and Coeur d'Alene Charter girls (3A) came up short in the title games. Lake City was even edged out on tiebreaker penalties after six rounds from the spot. The Lake City boys finished third in their bracket and the Timberlake girls were third in 3A. All the championship day results can be found here [+]
Here is a look around the leagues for Eastern & Central Washington (all stats are unofficial):
If you have any updates for stats (particularly assists that go unrecorded for road games), please drop INWsn a note at snaeditor-at-gmail.com. INWsn is currently missing scoring (and GK) information for 10.23 Rogers @ LC, 10/15 Moses Lake @ Eastmont, 10/13 Eastmont @ Eisenhower, 10/3 Pasco @ Walla Walla and 9.24 Medical Lake @ Newport games.
SPOKANE AREA LEAGUES ##############
GSL 10.23 Friday: North Central 0-5 Ferris; Mt Spokane 1-3; Central Valley 5-0 Shadle Park; Mead 0-2 University; Rogers @ LC - no report
GNL 10.24 Saturday: Pullman 2-SO-1 Cheney; East Valley 5-1 Clarkston
Remaining League Games
NEA Tuesday: Deer Park @ Colville; Lakeside @ Freeman; Riverside @ Medical Lake
NEA Thursday: Freeman @ Deer Park; Colville @ Lakeside; Newport @ Riverside
Photos: 10.22 Riverside @ St Georges (NL) [+]... 10.23 Mt Spokane @ Gonzaga Prep [+] -- All INWsn HS Galleries [+]
SOUTH & CENTRAL WA AREA LEAGUES ##############
MCC 10.24 Saturday: Kennewick 0-3 Hanford; Walla Walla 0-4 Kamiakin; Southridge 1-0 Pasco; Chiawana 4-1 Richland
MCC 10.26 Playoff Monday: Kennewick 0-5 Kamiakin
Photos: 10.20 Eastmont @ Davis by Tracie Fowler [+]
Remaining League Games
CBB9 Tuesday: Davis @ Moses Lake, West Valley @ Eastmont, Sunnyside @ Wenatchee
CBB9 Thursday: Eisenhower @ West Valley, Wenatchee @ Moses Lake, Eastmont @ Sunnyside
GSL & MCC BRACKETS - DISTRICTS & REGIONALS #########
-- INWsn --
