CAMAS — Heading into Saturday, Camas and its dynamic senior-laden attack was looking to return to its high-scoring form it has showed for much of the season.
“We were really due for some goals,” head coach Roland Minder said. “We were really plugging along.”
Seemingly all at once, the Papermakers erupted for three goals in four minutes in the first half of a 4-2 win over Bellarmine Prep at Doc Harris Stadium Saturday afternoon to propel them into the 4A state quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year.
Wingers Jazzy Paulson and Jenna Efraimson, forward Maddie Kemp and midfielder Callie Rheaume — all seniors — left their fingerprints all over the burst of offense.
“That was one of the best halves of Camas soccer ever, incredible goals,” Minder said. “That was textbook … that one you savor, that was delicious.”
The first strike came in the 12th minute. Callie Rheaume’s corner found the head of Maddie Kemp to put the Papermakers up early. Minder told the team before the game that an early goal could eliminate stress. The team listened.
“Once we scored one it settled up in and we were in rhythm,” Efraimson said.
Kemp played all but nine minutes in the Papermakers’ first round game, and was nagged by a lingering hamstring injury suffered in extra time of the district finals, which caused her to miss practice this past week.
Questions lingered — will Kemp have her full muster with her dominant shooting leg?
Kemp even just being out on the field — let alone in the attacking third — at less than 100 percent still forces opposing defenses to account for the reigning 4A state player of the year, and her ability to score from seemingly anywhere.
Plus, it was after taking a particularly hard shot in the second half of Wednesday’s first round game that the hamstring pain forced her out of the game.
On Saturday, her 30th minute strike cleared up any questions.
Kemp scored from 35 yards out on a booming right-footed blast that caught the keeper defenseless.
“I didn’t even know how deep I was, I just decided to shoot,” Kemp said.
Said Paulson: “I didn’t even follow it, I knew it was going in.”
It was the Papermakers’ third goal in a four-minute span, and wound up serving as the nail in the coffin with more than half the game left to play.
The four-goal cushion took much of the bite out of the Lions’ last-ditch effort in the final 10 minutes. Lindsey Rudd scored her second goal with six minutes to play on a header from a free kick near the right goal line outside the box to make it 4-2.
A series of Bellarmine Prep’s opportunities at goal in the waning moments came up short. In the end, Camas’ lead proved too big to topple.
“They came at us big time,” Minder said.
Camas will play in the 4A state semifinals against Spokane’s Central Valley on Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
For Minder, who Saturday coached his last game ever at Doc Harris Stadium after nearly 30 years, the win was a fitting adieu to the stadium he’s called home for many years. Minder announced before the season it would be his last. He began coaching the Camas boys soccer program in 1995 and took over the girls in 2004.
“Kind of a finality,” Minder said. “It’s starting to sink in. I’m happy we could have a result like this, it makes for a much better memory.”
CAMAS 4, BELLARMINE PREP 2
Camas
Goals (assists) — Maddie Kemp (Callie Rheaume), Jazzy Paulson (Jenna Efraimson), Efraimson (Paulson), Kemp (unassisted). Goalkeeper saves — Isabella Gieszler 5.
Bellarmine Prep
Goals (assists) — Lindsey Rudd (penalty), Lindsey Rudd (Sam McKiernan).
Halftime — Camas 4-0.
