RIDGEFIELD — Forgive the members of the Ridgefield boys soccer team if they were struck by a bit of déjà vu on Saturday.
For a second consecutive year, the Spudders found themselves in a tough battle with Aberdeen in the first round of the 2A district tournament. And again, this match went down to the wire.
Luckily for the Spudders, the result was the same — a 1-0 victory — and this time Ridgefield didn’t wait quite as long for the deciding goal.
Sophomore Jonathan Flury converted a free kick over the head of the Aberdeen goalkeeper from 30 yards out, sending the Spudders to a semifinal match Tuesday against Mark Morris.
“We played them last year (in district), and we ended up getting a goal with 30 seconds to play,” Flury said. “So we know it was going to be a tough game. … That’s what we talked about at practice yesterday. That they’re a good team and better than a lot of teams we’ve seen this year.”
Ridgefield coach Brian Newman said: “Normally when you win league, you go to district thinking you’ll have an easier game to open district. Instead, for the second straight year, we open against one of the better teams in the state.”
Aberdeen is a 2A school the plays in the 1A Evergreen Conference because most Aberdeen teams in the past have had trouble competing against 2A Evergreen Conference schools.
Boys soccer is the exception to that rule.
The Bobcats came into the match with a 16-2 mark after finishing atop the 1A Evergreen Conference. As part of the district agreement, Aberdeen had to play two loser-out games to earn a spot in the district tournament, the first Tuesday against W.F. West (the last place team in the 2A EvCo) and Thursday against Hockinson (the fifth place in the in the 2A Greater St. Helens League).
Aberdeen won those two matches by a combined score of 11-0 and advanced to district with the lowest seed possible, setting up the rematch with Ridgefield, the 2A GSHL champion.
“We’ve been talking about this game for three weeks,” Newman said. “Normally, we don’t like to look that far ahead. But as soon as we knew we had a good chance to win league, we knew this matchup would happen. So I wanted to get our mindset right that we were in for a challenge to open district.”
As expected, Aberdeen and Ridgefield battled evenly for the first half before the Spudders started to gain the better share of possession in the second half.
But the Spudders couldn’t convert those possessions into a goal until Max Hauser was taken down about 30 yards from the goal, setting up Flury’s free kick.
“I wasn’t even planning on taking (the free kick),” Flury said. “Max was going to take it. But then the coaches told me to take it. And then one of our captains, Drew Williams, told me to hit it over the keeper, so I just tried to place it over the keeper onto the far corner.”
Ridgefield will face Mark Morris at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Ridgefield. The winner earns a spot into the district title match and gets a berth to the state tournament.
RIDGEFIELD 1, ABERDEEN 0
Ridgefield
Goal — Jonathan Flury, free kick. Goalkeeper saves — Joe Lindbo 3.
Aberdeen
Goalkeeper saves — Alexis Garcia 6.
Halftime — Tied 0-0.
