The Issaquah Press
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SPORTS
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Wednesday November 21, 2012
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BY GREG FARRAR
Bianca Saint (right) screams and leaps into the arms of Brooke Holland as the Skyline High School girls soccer team is awarded its state 4A championship trophy Nov. 17 at Carl Sparks Stadium in Puyallup, after beating cross-district rival and co-tournament finalist Issaquah, 1-0.
RETURN TO TITLE TOWN Skyline blanks Issaquah for state soccer championship
SLIDESHOW Find more photos from the Issaquah, Liberty and Skyline girls soccer teams at www.issaquahpress.com.
By John Leggett ip-sports@isspress.com Sometimes, really good things come in small packages. Such was the case on the turf of Puyallup High School’s Sparks Stadium, the evening of Nov. 17 when Issaquah and Skyline squared off for the 4A girls state soccer title. When the dust cleared in the brutally physical throw down, the Skyline Spartans had blanked their KingCo 4A nemesis, 1-0, to claim the state crown for the fourth time in the past five years. At the 15-minute mark of a hard fought game that included a total of 20 fouls and four yellow cards, Skyline sophomore striker Isabella “Izzy” Marshall, easily the most demure girl on the pitch at 5 feet and 100 pounds dripping wet, registered the
BY GREG FARRAR
Izzy Marshall (center), Skyline High School sophomore forward, celebrates her goal in the first period with the assist from fellow sophomore forward Amanda Johnston (left) as Issaquah goalkeeper Ashley Batistich (1) and other players look on. encounter’s solitary goal. The diminutive firecracker took a picturesque assist from fellow sophomore forward Amanda Johnston and amid heavy traffic in front of Issaquah’s goal mouth pulled the trigger, legging in a left-footed rocket from about five yards out.
“I was just really happy for the seniors on this team, who have shown me that when you work hard, believe in yourselves and play confidently … you can achieve great things,” the impish Marshall said with an excited gasp in the electric atmosphere following Skyline’s clutch tri-
umph. As expected in the muchanticipated rivalry, neither team was going to be pushed around without getting in their licks, although both teams’ participants suffered their share of rug burns as players from both sides were constantly being nudged, jolted
or flat out shoved from behind, in not so discreet a fashion, and flopping awkwardly down to the artificial surface became commonplace. Despite both teams possessing a great deal of offensive firepower throughout the regular season and beyond, defense definitely ruled the day. It didn’t take long for the statisticians to tabulate the number of legitimate shots on goal, as there were five taken by each team, and the contest’s goal keepers, Emily Baril (Skyline) and Tara Fry (Issaquah) had a grand total of one official save between them. The midfielders and defenders were the stars that shined brightest on this night, as See TITLE, Page B5
Liberty fades to finish fourth in state soccer tourney
By John Leggett ip-sports@isspress.com
A Liberty High School girls soccer squad that breezed through the regular season to win the KingCo 3A with a 12-0-1 mark, and automatically punch its ticket to the state tournament as the conference winner, could not have met with worse fortune in the semifinal round of the state tournament. In the semifinals held at Puyallup High School’s Sparks Field on Nov. 16, against Columbia River, Liberty was cruising along and it seemed as though it had secured a surefire 1-0 victory, courtesy of a Tara Johnson goal scored in the first half off a Katie Noonan assist. Suddenly in the contest’s 69th minute, the Chieftains took one of their two kickand-a-prayer shots on goal they strung together during the entire game. It somehow See LIBERTY, Page B5
BY DEAN RUTZ/THE SEATTLE TIMES
Skyline’s defensive line holds Roosevelt’s Taku Shiozaki to a 2-yard gain in the third quarter Nov. 16.
Skyline charges to semifinals with 54-21 win over Roosevelt By Lillian O’Rorke ltucker@ sammamishreview.com BY GREG FARRAR
Kali Youhgdahl (left), Liberty High School junior forward, has her jersey grabbed by Holy Names senior defender A.J. Fischer while attacking the goal during the first period of their state 3A consolation final Nov. 17 in Puyallup.
The last time the Skyline football team played under the Space Needle at Memorial Stadium, it had already wrapped up
the win by the end of the second quarter, beating Roosevelt 43-7 at the half. Eight weeks later, that wasn’t the case. When the halftime buzzer sounded Nov. 16, the state quarterfinal game was tied 14-14. This was the first time
in 15 years that the Roosevelt Roughriders had played in the postseason, and after making it to the final eight, they were not going quietly into the See FOOTBALL, Page B5