Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Darby Soliday strikes a shot that would bounce off the top of the goal in overtime Saturday. Davenport and NWC tied 2-2.
DAVENPORT – The defending 2B state soccer champions have notched a loss, tie and win so far this season in a strange, shortened 2020-21 "fall sports" season.
Some late-game heroics from Davenport's Darby Soliday were overshadowed by even later heroics from St. George's Margreit Galow. Galow scored a high-arching goal from about 25 yards out in the last minute and the Dragons topped the Gorillas 3-2 in the season opener Feb. 25.
Soliday tied the game with her second goal with 6:30 remaining, but the celebration was short lived after St. George's steadily moved on the attack before Galow's goal. The game was called shortly afterwards.
"Both teams went through a lot of adversity, and we were the ones who happened to get lucky and get the goal at the end," St. George's head coach Logan Georgedis said.
Cambrie Rickard scored both of St. George's goals in the first half. Davenport trailed 2-1 at intermission.
Wind played a big factor Thursday. Gusts of up to 44 miles per hour blew steadily east throughout the game, so the team heading west to east was usually on the attack. In the second half, that was Davenport.
We talked about at halftime to let the ball get up in the air and let the wind carry and kept it on the ground, so it played a big role," Davenport head coach Monty Soliday said.
After scoring two goals with the wind advantage in the first half, St. George's defense held strong in the second half, allowing just one goal despite Davenport holding a time of possession advantage after intermission.
"When you play a team like Davenport with such skilled forwards (and) a wind advantage, it's tough," Georgedis said.
Thursday's game marked the second season in a row St. George's has defeated Davenport in the regular season, though the Gorillas defeated the Dragons twice in districts and the state playoffs in 2019 after the regular season shortfall.
"We didn't play our brand of soccer. We just kind of swung at the ball rather than placing it. We had people out of position," Monty Soliday said. "The girls are going to have to talk more; there wasn't as much talking."
Two days later against Northwest Christian, Darby Soliday was inches away from a heroic hat trick that would've likely given Davenport a 3-2 win, but her shot at the end of overtime hit off the top post of the goal. Ellie Telford was inches away from hitting the ricochet into the goal, but NWC came up with two sliding defensive stops.
The end result was a 2-2 tie between the Gorillas and Crusaders.
"You have to have people charging the ball. We've gotten used to Darby finishing those, and she caught the crossbar, and we need people crashing in," Monty Soliday said. "We got caught standing around watching her, which is pretty easy to do."
NWC struck first with a goal from Integrity Larson in the eighth minute, but Soliday quickly came back with a breakaway goal. The Gorilla star netted another goal minutes later, and Davenport took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
"Darby is impossible to guard, (but) I thought we did a pretty good job managing her, which isn't easy to do," NWC coach Toby Rainbow said.
Both teams held steady throughout the second half, and Davenport missed several shots, including a strike from Milei Floyd that sailed just left. NWC got the ball back with 14 minutes left and tied it with another Larson shot from the top of the box.
Davenport got a corner kick at the end of regulation, but a header from Soliday off Telford's corner was defended by the Crusaders.
Outside of the excitement of the missed shots by Soliday and Telford, overtime was uneventful, and the game ended in a tie.
The Gorillas finally got in the win column after three attempts following a 7-1 victory over Kettle Falls Tuesday, March 2.
Soliday scored three goals for the Gorillas in the first half, then Kiersten Kemmerer notched the first goal of the season not scored by Soliday. In the second half, Milei Floyd, Jensyn Jacobsen and Cady Zellmer joined the scoring party.
The game was played 7-on-7 with a shortened field due to Kettle Falls' lack of players.
"Even though we reduced the field size, it gives more space," Monty Soliday said. "We kept our normal crew for a little bit, then put in some of the newer and younger players to try to get them involved. We're going to have to find another scorer at some point...so we're kind of searching and trying to find that next level for our offense."
Davenport will now head on the road after three straight home games to open the season. Next up is a rematch at St. George's scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, March 6.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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