There were no real surprises in the 4A Columbia Basin Big Nine this week, though Eastmont was able to finish third with a split on the week while Moses Lake dropped a pair of extremely tight contests at home, dropping a wild 4-3 affair to Davis and a coming up short in a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw against Wenatchee, who handed them their biggest loss earlier in the year (5-0). As expected, West Valley finished perfect and with an eye-opening finale at home, drubbing last-place Eisenhower with 15 goals. League-leading scorer Caitlin Quaempts only added a goal and assist on the day to her tally to finish with 15 goals and nine assists on the year, unofficially. Her teammate Kendra Hanses was the second-leading scorer with 13 goals.
On Saturday, the Big Nine hits the field for what it calls play-in games to determine what two sides will continue to have a chance at the second seed to state from the league.
Meanwhile in the 1A Northeast A League, things were a bit interesting in the final days. Deer Park, as expected, captured the league title with a lone defeat on their ledger. But it was the race for second that was intriguing, and finished in a three-way tie.
In addition to falling out of their chase for first, Freeman fell to third by the end of the season. It started when the Scotties were topped for a second time this season by Lakeside Tuesday. They then went into the final game looking to hold second. They used a strategy designed to shut down league scoring power Riley Martinson (26 goals), which worked as she was shutout for the first time this season other than a game she was suspended for. However, they could not contain the rest of the Deer Park Stags offense and fell 2-1 on a pair of goals from Jessie Thomas, the league's second best scorer with 13 tallies. The two losses allowed Lakeside and Riverside to pull even and force a three-way tiebreaker that saw Lakeside (3-1 against the other two) finish second for a first round bye and Freeman (2-2) third. Freeman and Riverside will host the opening playoff games Saturday.
One classification up in 2A, the Great Northern League started postseason play Thursday with a pair of contests that saw no surprises. Second-place West Valley and Clarkston advanced to Saturday's contest that will see the winner move onto the district final and a guaranteed state berth. The Bantoms gave West Valley issues this season, going to overtime in the first game before falling 2-1 and playing the Eagles to a scoreless draw in the third meeting before dropping the penalty tiebreaker. Both were in Clarkston, though, with West Valley prevailing 2-0 at home in the second game.
** CHECK OUT BRACKETS BELOW **
The 3A district playoffs are nearly complete.
Mt Spokane handily claimed the title out of the GSL as expected, downing North Central 4-1. Both move onto regionals.
Down in the Mid-Columbia Conference, the third-seeded Kamiakin Braves upset second-seeded Hanford by a big 5-1 scoreline to advance to their district final and ensure a spot in the regionals with Southridge, which they face Saturday. Though they were only a game back in the table and fell in a shootout in their last meeting after a 2-2 draw, the Braves did post a similar 4-0 victory earlier in the season against Hanford.
Both league's wrap up their 4A district playoffs Saturday.
The brackets down south played out according to seeding with a pair of one-sided affairs to set up Chiawana and Richland, who both advance to regionals, playing for the district title. Chiawana narrowly took the first regular season contest 3-2 but eased past Richland 4-1 just a week ago.
Third-seeded Ferris nipped league runners-up University 2-1 in GSL action Thursday night to ensure themselves a spot in the regionals, facing Gonzaga Prep Saturday in the district final. The unbeaten Bullpups survived a scare of their own, going to a shootout for the second time this season. The fourth seed and reigning two-time state champion Bears of Central Valley were the first team to shutout Prep this season, playing the GSL champs to a scoreless stalemate before falling in the shootout. University gets a second shot at securing a regional berth Saturday, but will have to get past a CV side looking to find a path back to the state tournament to defend their titles. Gonzaga defeated Ferris 2-1 two weeks ago while the Bears and Titans still have something to settle after a scoreless draw October 7 went in favor of CV in the tiebreaker shootout.
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 ##############
NEA 10.26 Monday: Lakeside 2-1 Freeman
NEA 10.27 Tuesday: Deer Park 7-1 Colville; Riverside 5-1 Medical Lake
NEA 10.29 Thursday: Freeman 1-2 Deer Park; Colville 0-3 Lakeside; Newport 0-3 Riverside
Playoff Results: See brackets
Photos: 10.29 Colville @ Lakeside [coming soon]... 10.29 Central Valley @ Gonzaga Prep [+]... 10.27 Mead @ Central Valley [+] -- All INWsn HS Galleries [+]
SOUTH & CENTRAL WA AREA LEAGUES ##############
CBB9 10.27 Tuesday: Davis 4-3 Moses Lake, West Valley 3-0 Eastmont, Sunnyside 1-7 Wenatchee
CBB9 10.29 Thursday: Eisenhower 0-15 West Valley, Wenatchee 1-SO-0 Moses Lake, Eastmont 6-3 Sunnyside
Playoff Results: See brackets
BRACKETS - DISTRICTS & REGIONALS #########
-- INWsn --
