AAA Boys Soccer -- Another Win From The Heart For Cascade

EVERETT - Ryan Shay admits there are teams with better soccer skills than the Cascade Bruins.

But that doesn't mean those squads are a better soccer team than the Bruins.

Cascade, with shutout goalkeeping from Shay, beat Bellarmine Prep 1-0 in a first-round game of the Class AAA state tournament last night at Everett Memorial Stadium.

"Every time we win a game, we have to step it up because it's going to get harder and harder the further we go," said Shay, who recorded his fourth shutout. "This team has more heart than any team I've played on. We don't have the most talent of all the teams out there, but we can win it with our heart."

Cascade (12-1-4), the Western Conference champion, will face Summer, which beat Olympic 1-0 last night, in a quarterfinal game Saturday at Everett Memorial. Bellarmine Prep ended the year 15-2.

The Bruins took control early when senior forward Chad Evans scored 90 seconds into the match. Evans, in the left corner, hooked a shot into the net for his team-leading 18th goal of the season.

"It was more luck than anything," Evans said. "I was just trying to put it across, and it happened to go in."

Shay made two fine saves in the second half to preserve the win. With 16 minutes left, Shay fisted out a 30-yard shot by Mike Moysich that was pegged for the upper corner.

With eight minutes left, a sliding Shay knocked away a point-blank shot by Erik Pfeiffer.

Cascade Coach Pat Henderson credited defenders Kevin Myers, Andy Kirkpatrick and Zach Daniels for playing a solid game.

"We got through a difficult game, basically. We knew Bellarmine was solid," Henderson said. "I don't think we had any illusions it would be an easy match because there aren't any in the tournament.

"I think the early goal, in a way, hurt us. Obviously, it won the game for us, but our intensity dropped a bit. We were suddenly playing to keep a lead instead of winning the game."

Henderson also praised sophomores Adam Riley and Zeb Cobbs for playing well off the bench.

Cascade has eight wins and one tie in its last nine games.

"Our defense really kept us in the game. Without our defense, we wouldn't have won this," Shay said. "They came at us pretty hard toward the end of the second half. They wanted it, but we shut them down. There's nothing else to say about that."

Oak Harbor ousted

Decatur 2, Oak Harbor 1 - Tony Rolewicz and Ryan LeProuse both scored in the final 4:09 as Decatur (16-0-2) eliminated Oak Harbor in a first-round game at Federal Way Stadium.

The match appeared headed for overtime when LeProuse scored with 30 seconds to play, this time on a header off a long throw-in by David Liukkonen.

The Wildcats were devastated.

"Maybe it was destiny for them to win it," Oak Harbor Coach Travis Connell said with tears in his eyes. "That was quite a comeback."

Oak Harbor beat Decatur 1-0 in last year's state quarterfinals.