CAMAS — The Camas forwards kept Lake Stevens goalkeeper Madison McDonald busy, and the Papermaker midfielders kept the Vikings chasing the ball for long stretches on Tuesday at Doc Harris Stadium.
But it took two perfectly placed balls — one from each of the Camas outside backs — to push the Papermakers past Lake Stevens and into the Class 4A girls soccer state quarterfinals.
Camas (18-1-1) will travel to face Skyline of Sammamish (13-2-3) on Friday or Saturday. The time was to be determined.
Maddie Kemp headed home a corner kick by sophomore right back Perri Belzer in the 57th minute, and junior left back Hannah Taie scored from 25 yards on a free kick in stoppage time to give the Papermakers a 2-0 win in a match they dominated.
“To finish two set plays, that’s good,” Camas coach Roland Minder said. “I’d sure like to see some more goals in the run of play, because we had so many opportunities. That’s been our team all year long. We just shoot and shoot and shoot, but putting that round thing into that rectangular thing just kind of eludes us.”
The breakthrough goal eluded Camas despite outshooting Lake Stevens 13-2 in the first 40-minute half that saw the Vikings’ McDonald make eight saves and a Sabine Postma shot hit the cross bar. It wasn’t until the Papermaker’s 18th attempt on goal that they scored.
“I was so scared,” Camas senior central defender Mason Minder said. “We’d take a shot and it would be 2 centimeters off, dang it!”
Kemp, a freshman who split time up front Tuesday with senior Amanda Shi, was right on as her head struck Belzer’s delivery from the left corner. Kemp started her run outside the 18-yard box and met the cross in stride from 5 yards in front of goal.
“(Belzer) has great corners,” Kemp said. “I told her at halftime to keep getting them right over the goalie because she’s a little short. If we get it over (the goalkeeper) we’ll have people right there.”
Roland Minder called Kemp’s header “textbook.”
Lake Stevens (14-6-2) took three shots the entire match. The Vikings looked dangerous on one first-half counter attack, and had one late corner kick opportunity that the Camas defense dealt with simply.
Taie said it was important to be aware of potential long counter-attack passes even as the Papermakers were dominating possession.
“You have to pay attention to where the ball is at all times because you don’t want to get turned around by a long ball,” she said. “You just have to be on your toes the whole time, and have a lot of communication with teammates, which we do.”
Near as Kemp can remember, it was her second goal from a header this season. Taie’s goal was her second this season from a free kick, though she narrowly missed high with two free kicks in the first half. Her goal, in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, came from 25 yards out on the right wing into left side of the net.
“I just said to myself ‘Keep it low.’ Because I know it’s going to go high once I kick it, but if I am low then it can still go in,” Taie said.
It did, and Camas is moving onto the quarterfinals. A year after missing the state tournament, the Papermakers are focused on keeping this run going.
