CAMAS — It’s been a long wait between trips to the state boys soccer semifinals for the Camas Papermakers.
Probably seemed as long as the wait from a very early goal by sophomore Cooper Schneider to the final whistle Saturday at Doc Harris Stadium as Camas withstood a final attack by the Chiawana Riverhawks to secure a 1-0 victory in the WIAA Class 4A state quarterfinals.
No. 4 seed Camas (18-1-2) will be going to the state semifinals for the first time since winning the state title as a 3A school in 2011. And the Papermakers will be facing No. 1 Pasco, the program that eliminated them in the 2022 4A quarterfinals.
Schneider scored his goal in the third minute of the match, taking a cross and putting it into the bottom corner of the net.
“I saw the run and knew it was coming to me,” Schneider said. “It was a great opportunity. I had to score it. It gave us a boost to score so early.”
From there, it was an entertaining stalemate with both sides creating chances and both defenses holding strong.
In the first half, Camas had five shots come close to a goal that either ended up being gobbled up or tipped away by Chiawana goalkeeper Moises Nino or sailed high. Schneider also had four corner kicks in stoppage time, but the Papermakers were unable to add to their lead.
Camas keeper Will Taves came up big as well, especially as a rain shower passed through late in the first half. Just as the rain was getting heavy, Taves came up with one of his three saves in the half.
The second half started in a downpour but finished in sunlight as Chiawana pushed hard for a tying goal. Each time, the Camas defense held.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Camas coach Josh Stoller said. “Will was good with his saves, Owen (Tuttle) got to the air balls.”
Stoller said the scouting report on Chiawana was that it was a good team working off set pieces, so the Papermakers defense had to react to that.
But getting that first goal helped set the tone.
“It helped propel us into the match,” Stoller said. “It was important to get a quick goal.”
Camas had opportunities to score in the second half. The Papermakers just missed on a breakaway chance, and there was a blast from Schneider that just went high over the goal.
Chiawana (19-3) had three very good shots at a goal in the final 20 minutes. Two went over the goal and another was gathered up by Taves. There were also two corner kicks in stoppage time that didn’t yield a tying goal. In between all that, the Camas defenders did their job of taking away opportunities from the Hawks.
Now comes a trip to Sparks Stadium in Puyallup as the Papermakers bring in a 14-match win streak into the semifinals on Friday. Kickoff against Pasco (20-1) is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. It follows the first semifinal set for noon between No. 6 Sunnyside (15-3) and No. 10 Mount Si (15-4).
The semifinal winners play for the title at 4 p.m. next Saturday and a third-place match will be at 10 a.m.
