The Gonzaga Prep Bullpups took the regular season title in the Greater Spokane League this season with an unbeaten record of 9-0 this season and handily won a pair of postseason games against Hanford and Richland to set up a district final Tuesday against Mead.
Tuesday's contest will be a rematch of the GSL's top two sides this season as Mead finished second at 7-2. Prep was nearly perfect on the campaign as their only blip was a shootout victory against... Mead. The Panthers tied the contest up twice - the only team this season to score twice against the Pups - and the two would end up at the spot. Chelsea Le scored both GP goals and Margo Schoesler had a goal and assist in response. Prep took the tiebreaker 4-2 in four rounds.
The match was the first close contest for the Bullpups, who would be tested in their final two with 2-1 wins against the Spokane Valley duo of University and Central Valley. GP went on to dispatch 8-6 Hanford (MCC) in the opening round of the district tournament and downed MCC runner-up Richland (12-2) in the semifinals, 3-1, on Saturday.
Mead, meanwhile, just kind of plugged away during their campaign. After opening against Rogers the Panthers took a nail-biter against University 2-1 in a shootout in their second game. The second week followed the same pattern with an easy win against Shadle followed by the Prep match-up. They then took another narrow win against rival Mt Spokane 1-0. The final eight days was a tough scenario as they fell 3-1 to Central Valley - making the seeding race more interesting - and won the season finale 3-2 against Ferris, rallying twice to pull even and getting the game-winner in stoppage time to finish second.
The other 4A side still alive is Central Valley, which visits Chiawana Tuesday. The Bears were chasing from the beginning as they slipped up 3-2 against Ferris on opening day of GSL play. From there the Bears were a dominant force much of the season with wins by at least two goals until they were derailed in the final week of the season. Mt Spokane rallied from two down to eventually claim a shootout victory, 3-2, and then they saw the Bullpups rally for the win in the finale. The unfortunate run rolled into the postseason as Richland handed them a 4-2 defeat down south, but the Bears rebounded against Hanford to keep another chance at a state berth going.
By far, the surprise of the season, however, has been Mt Spokane. The Wildcats took care of business against North Central and Shadle Park in the opening week of league play to basically lock up the 3A title in the first three days of the season. Everything from there was gravy. In a game suspended even at 1-1 due to thunderstorms the Wildcats claimed a 2-1 comeback victory on a 'late' goal several days later against University and two days later narrowly fell to their rivals. The following week they knocked off Ferris 2-1. In the final week they claimed the surprise win against Central Valley by erasing a two goal deficit to eventually claim a shootout win. Mt Spokane nearly finished third in the league, only to see things come undone by a 2-1 shootout loss to Lewis & Clark in the finale. In the playoffs the Wildcats hosted Southridge, a rematch of last year's mudbowl event, only to come out on the losing end 1-0, setting up a second chance scenario Tuesday against Shadle Park for the berth to state.
Central Valley finished as the leading team in the scoring department this season with 40 goals while Gonzaga Prep were the top side defensively with just six allowed through the nine regular season games. Zoe Crockett nearly accounted half of the Bears' tally with 16 goals and two assists this season. The Ferris duo of Cadence Peroff - a freshman - and Yacine Bitibale finished second and third behind Crockett in points. Peroff netted 10 goals and two assists with Bitibale registering eight and four. Three of the next four were the Prep trio of Campbell Seibold, Chelsea Le and Grace Kalua with Mead's Schoesler mixed in. Schoesler was also atop the assists table with six assists and six goals. Ellie Johnson was the leading scorer in the 3A ranks with four goals and three assists for Mt Spokane.
Central Valley, Gonzaga Prep and University all finished with four team shutouts this season to lead the league. Their keepers, not surprisingly, were also the top three in goals-against-average. Gonzaga Prep's Eden Elliott gave up just five goals in eight games, registering three shutouts for a GAA of 0.65. Drew Scott also came in just under one goal per game allowed at 0.99 with six goals allowed in seven appearances. University's Josie Krum was the only other keeper with three shutouts, finishing with a 1.19 GAA. Anna Boyer of Mt Spokane was by far the leading keeper amongst the 3A contingent at 1.21.
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DISTRICT PLAYOFF RESULTS / SCHEDULE
4A
Quarterfinals
10.30 - (8) Hanford 1-5 Gonzaga Prep (1)
10.31 - (6) Walla Walla 1-4 Mead (3)
10.31 - (7) Ferris 0-1 Chiawana (2)
10.31 - (5) Central Valley 2-4 Richland (4)
Semifinals
11.02 - (3) Mead 1-0 [4-2 SO] Chiawana (2)
11.02 - (4) Richland 1-3 Gonzaga Prep (1)
Consolation Bracket
11.02 - (7) Ferris 0-1 Walla Walla (6)
11.02 - (8) Hanford 1-2 Central Valley (5)
District Final
11.05 - (3) Mead @ (1) Gonzaga Prep 6:00
Consolation Semifinals
11.05 - (6) Walla Walla @ (4) Richland TBD
11.05 - (5) Central Valley @ (2) Chiawana 5:00
Consolation Final
11.07 - TBD
3A
First Round
10.31 - (5) Kennewick 0-1 Shadle Park (3)
10.31 - (5) North Central 0-4 Southridge (2)
Semifinals
11.02 - (3) Shadle Park 0-3 Kamiakin (2)
11.02 - (4) Southridge 1-0 Mt Spokane (1)
District Final
11.05 - (4) Southridge @ (2) Kamiakin 6:00
11.05 - (3) Shadle Park @ (1) Mt Spokane 2:00
PHOTOS
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