CAMAS — The Woodinville soccer team’s high-powered attack ran into a couple of obstacles that were a little bit stronger on Saturday at Doc Harris Stadium.
Those things were a whole lot of Camas tradition and the creative feet of Bennett Lehner.
Lehner set up two goals and scored a beauty himself as the Papermakers nailed down their 18th consecutive state tournament berth with a 3-0 win over the Falcons.
Camas (17-1-1) will face Snohomish, the defending 4A state champions, at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 4A round of 16.
These Papermakers were aware of the state playoff streak. Camas coach Roland Minder knew his team was focused by the silence in the pre game locker room.
“The tone in the locker room was totally different than it’s been for any game this year,” Minder said. “… This is usually a very giddy bunch. I told them they had hundreds of players looking over they shoulders. They don’t want to be the team to break the streak.”
Woodinville had scored six goals twice in its last three games and came out on the front foot Saturday.
But that momentum was slowed in the ninth minute when Lehner was fouled inside the penalty area on one of the first offensive opportunities for the Papermakers. He won possession of a long forward ball from goalkeeper Brian Murray, beat a defender with his dribble and was knocked down inside the penalty area. Danny Wing converted the penalty kick, giving Camas an early lead that took away some of the early-match anxiety.
“That was a game-changer. It just seemed to hype everybody up,” Camas senior midfielder Shad Dawson said.
Woodinville’s senior-laden team was bigger than Camas at many positions, and the Falcons were quick to send balls forward. Miles Sanchez used his size in midfield to win many battles and then send balls quickly forward to the wing.
Halftime positioning adjustments helped deal with those passes, but the real boost for Camas after the break came from a Lehner corner kick one minute into the second half.
Lehner said his plan was to just put the ball across the top of the 6-yard box and try to find an attacking runner. It was no surprise to him that it was sophomore defender Dominic Fewel, for the third time this season, finishing a corner kick with a smashing header.
The third Camas goal, in the 52nd minute, was a demonstration of why Lehner was named the state Gatorade Player of the Year for Washington. On the counter attack, the University of Dayton-bound senior dribbled past a defender and from left of the goal struck the ball with the outside of his right foot. Goalkeeper Shea Bowdish had no chance as the shot curved inside the near post.
Camas’ Murray made six saves, including one nice diving effort on a shot from an angle in the second half. The Falcons kept Murray and the Papermaker defenders busy by taking 19 shots, most of them from outside the penalty area.
“They say time flies when you’re having fun,” Murray said. “Every time I looked back at the clock (in the second half) there were 10 minutes gone.”
Next comes the fun of a state playoff showdown — a tradition that in Camas dates back to 1999.
