Ridgefield girls soccer coach Jeff Lukowiak said the Spudders are peaking at the right time.
And that doesn’t happen by luck. It takes practice — lots and lots of practice.
Off a free kick, Claire Jones fed the ball perfectly to Kelli Krsul, and the senior forward punched it in for the pivotal first goal that propelled Ridgefield to a 3-0 win over Columbia River in a 2A district semifinal Tuesday at River.
Ridgefield will advance to play Hockinson on Thursday for the district title, most likely at District Stadium in Battle Ground. The Spudders also clinched a state tournament berth.
“When Claire had it, I just decided to start running, and I saw her ball come right in,” Krsul said. “I just knew to hit it, but not hit it too hard because I’m known for hitting it right over the goal a lot. But Claire’s ball was beautiful, and I hit it just right.”
Lukowiak said Jones and Krsul played it just as the team practiced it.
“We must have practiced that for 20 minutes last night,” he said. “And they put it in first chance.”
Much of the first 10 minutes of the match was played in the middle of the field, and the free kick came off the Spudders’ first serious threat.
“We’ve struggled with that most of the year, just not being able to finish,” Krsul said. “We’ve done so good getting the ball up. But this game, for sure, we knew how to finish, and we had great crosses on all three goals.”
Leading 1-0 at halftime, freshman Baylee Bushnell got open off a cross and punched it in for a 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute.
River brought pressure for much of the second half, but the Ridgefield back line and goalkeeper Josie Rinta were up to the challenge.
Krsul said that was the difference Tuesday from the Spudders’ previous two losses to River this season.
“This game, we pretty much got a 100 percent of the balls out of the air and beat them to it,” Krsul said. “This is the best defense I’ve seen us play all year.”
And then freshman Ella Rorabaugh sealed it with a goal in the 77th minute.
“We lost a defender in our last game, and everybody stepped up,” Lukowiak said. “And I just have to say the freshmen stepped up today. We had two freshmen score two goals, so it’s a bright future for Ridgefield.”
Columbia River, the district No. 1 seed, will host R.A. Long on Thursday in a winner-to-state match.
