By now, when ninth grader Ellie Walker starts making hand signals while running up the field, her Columbia River teammates know exactly what she wants.
The ball.
“It is like habit,” Walker said. “They’ve seen it before. They all come from club, so they know.”
Walker tallied both goals — her 10th and 11th of the season — in the first half, and Columbia River (17-0) beat Auburn Mountainview 2-0 in the Class 3A bi-district title match in Tacoma.
Walker blasted a 20-yard shot from the right side for the first score in the ninth minute. And she always seems to know where to position herself, too — as was the case on the final goal when she tapped in a deflected ball right in front of the Lions’ goal in the 27th minute.
“The first half I feel like we were executing well,” Columbia River coach Filomon Afenegus said. “We are a smaller team, so we have to be more technical and have a lot of the ball.”
Columbia River will open state against Liberty of Renton at Kiggins Bowl, likely on Wednesday.
Gig Harbor 1, Camas 0, PKs — Severely outplayed in the second half, the Tides rode goalkeeper Aubrey Lindberg’s 10 saves to a shootout. And that is where the two-time Narrows 4A champions flourished, defeating Camas, 1-0 in the 4A bi-district title match.
Lindberg stopped the Papermakers’ first penalty-kick attempt, and Gig Harbor’s Elly Aronson, Kailyn Tovey, Lauren Hattaberg and Sarah Hashman strung together four consecutive shootout goals to propel the Tides to a 4-3 win in the shootout.
“The second half was definitely a frustration. They were pressuring us out of the backfield,” Gig Harobr coach Dani States said. “Aubrey was our savior.”
Camas (14-3) outshot the Tides, 10-1, in the second half. One of Lindberg’s best saves came on Riley Allison’s header inside the Gig Harbor penalty box in the 43rd minute.
A minute later, Rachel Wildeson unleashed a 15-foot shot for Camas that barely missed, instead clanking off the left post.
The big blow for Camas came in the 77th minute when Wildeson was given a second yellow card, and ejected from the match. Not only did the Papermakers have to play a player down the rest of regulation and overtime, they also lost one of their best penalty-kick shooters.
“Losing her didn’t help,” Camas coach Roland Minder said. “It is what it is. You just move on from here.”
Camas will host Wenatchee in a first-round state playoff match at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Union 1, Federal Way 0 — An early goal by Naomi McDonald and solid defense helped the Union girls soccer team won a 4A bi-district match at Spanaway.
The win sends Union to the Class 4A state playoffs, where the Titans will play at Moses Lake at 6 p.m. Wednesday. McDonald scored in the 10th minute of the match off an assist from Delaney Lindhal. Mo Speith made four saves in goal.
Hazen 1, Prairie 0 — The Falcons’ season ended with the loss in the 3A bi-district match at Burien.
Hazen’s Gabby Bower scored a penalty kick with 9 minutes left in first half for the only goal in the match.
Hockinson 4, Captial 1 — Rylee Seekins scored all four goals for the Hawks and Gabrielle Burrell had two assists in the 2A district third-place match at District Stadium.
Shelby Lattourette also assisted on a goal, and Isabella Koenig made six saves in goal for the state-bound Hawks.
Hockinson will travel to play Squalicum of Bellingham in the first round of the 2A state playoffs on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Woodland 1, White Salmon 0 — Grace Adams scored in the 20th minute off an assist from Savana Tubbs as the Beavers won the third-place match at Kalama to earn a spot in the 1A state tournament.
Madison Sorensen made five saves in goal for the shutout.
Woodland will play Seattle Academy in the first round of the 1A state playoffs at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Starfire Complex in Tukwila.
