BATTLE GROUND — Skyview’s upperclassmen corralled the team together before the season started, took notice of the talent it possessed and set a laundry list of goals for the spring, with one big one in mind — getting to state, and winning a title.
So far, the team has made good on each of its team’s goals. What’s another to the Storm?
Behind a barrage of goal scoring opportunities, Skyview shut out Auburn 2-0 in a loser-out — or “blood round,” as the Storm wrote on the locker room whiteboard — bi-district tournament game on Thursday at Battle Ground’s District Stadium. The win earned Skyview a berth to state, which is another item Skyview can check off its to-do list.
“It’s rewarding to finally make it after the work we’ve put in,” Skyview forward Michael Kimbrell said. Kimbrell, a senior, was in eighth grade the last time the Storm made it to state.
Many of the team’s seniors have endured three coaching changes in four seasons, which Skyview head coach Colleen McKinney said makes its current run even more impressive.
And better yet, McKinney said, the Storm are playing some of their best soccer of the season.
“We have all these potential scoring powers and they’re just starting to find each other,” McKinney said. “We’re getting our train rolling. I just need it to roll really strong into state.”
Kimbrell scored both goals for the Storm. The first came in the 31st minute when Kimbrell caught the end of a corner kick by defender Andrew Harris and headed the ball past the Auburn goalkeeper. Five minutes into the second half, the Kimbrell scored on a well-struck ball in the box.
Skyview dominated possession, especially in the second half. The Storm took pride in finding teammates with balls on the ground, as opposed to playing long balls. What helped, Harris said, was that Auburn’s outside defenders pressed high, which gave Skyview’s wings ample space to operate.
The Storm rallied off 11 of its 17 shots in the second half, and even as it was creating opportunities in the game’s waning moments, McKinney challenged her leading scorer to notch a hattrick.
“Get another one,” she yelled to him from the bench, pushing her forward in a light-hearted manner.
“I’m trying,” Kimbrell, who had six total shots, retorted.
“He plays a brilliant part of our offense,” goalkeeper Dylan Debaldo said. “He knows how to get it done, and he gets it done just like he did tonight. We need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Skyview travels north to play the winner of Curtis and Auburn Riverside (the district one-seed) on Saturday at Ingersoll Stadium in Olympia in a match to decide state seeding.
As for the team’s overarching goals, which culminate with the grandiose dream of a state title, McKinney has centered them around statistics. In league, the Storm pledged to have 16 or less goals scored against them. They allowed 14. Offensively, they hoped to average around 20 shots per game, which they fell short of, McKinney said, but not by much.
Now as the team gears up for loser-out tournament-style play, it will try to take the opportunities it creates and net a higher scoring percentage.
“We’re real analytical that way, that focuses them,” McKinney said. “At the end of the day, I don’t really care as long as we’re pushing.”
But first, the Storm will play for seeding.
