CAMAS — As it turned out, the Camas boys soccer team only needed its one goal Saturday afternoon in a Class 3A bi-district playoff match.
Drew White’s goal off of a fabulous, 40-yard feed from Wyatt Brown in the first half accounted for the only score of the day, and the Camas defense did the rest, shutting down Auburn Mountainview for a 1-0 win at Doc Harris Stadium to advance to the Class 3A state tournament.
The Papermakers (16-1) will take on top-ranked Shorecrest of Shoreline (16-2) in the opening round, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Doc Harris. The Scots’ only losses this season came against second-ranked Glacier Peak, including a tiebreaker shootout in Thursday’s district title match.
Camas will hope that it saved its finishing skills for Tuesday’s match. Saturday, the Papermakers thrilled their fans with attack after attack, only to frustrate themselves with so many near-misses.
And what could have been a lopsided victory turned tense in the second half when a desperate Auburn Mountainview squad tried in earnest for the equalizer.
Issac Cardoza, AM’s most aggressive player on offense, squeezed past two defenders and found himself one-on-one with Zach Anderson, Camas’ goalkeeper. Anderson was up to the challenge, directing the ball away from danger.
“That kid had been pushing the whole time,” Anderson said. “He beat our defense that one time. I was able to get out there and close in on him in time before he could get off a good shot. Pretty good save.”
On the ensuing corner kick, a wild scramble for the ball gave AM another close-range shot. This time, it was Brown who backed up his keeper and kicked the ball to safety, just before the ball crossed the line into the net.
Camas controlled the ball for most of the match and had several opportunities to take a two-goal lead. That’s just part of the sport, the Papermakers say.
“In games like this, you’re always frustrated because you think you should be smashing them 4- or 5-nothing,” Anderson said. “Our defense just played smart and locked it down.”
Anderson and Camas coach Roland Minder credited Brown and freshman Matt Palodichuk for their play at center-back, new positions for both players this season.
“The old adage defense wins championships is as true now as it’s ever been,” Minder said.
After several near-goals, the Papermakers got on the board in the 28th minute of the match. Brown collected the ball around midfield, turned a saw his opening.
“I just saw a really big gap, and I knew Drew can run fast,” Brown said. “I hit it as hard as I could, as accurate as I could.”
The ball, with laser-like precision, found White just in front of the net. White made one move to his right, got the AM goalkeeper to bite, and placed the ball into the empty net.
Brown said by his calculations, the Papermakers easily could have scored six goals.
“It would have been nice to score more, but we won the game,” he said. “We’re happy with the win.”
Now, the Papermakers, No. 3 in the Seattle Times’ rankings, can start thinking about No. 1 Shorecrest.
“As Coach said, it’s not the luckiest of draws,” Brown said. “But we’d like to get them out of the way as fast as we can.”
