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closeCougars comeback bid falls short
Cascade’s second half surge is a foreshadowing of things to come for rising squad
Shaun Scott
Cascade Christian boys soccer coach Keith Patefield didn’t wear the look of an individual who just saw his team lose their second consecutive game of the season.
Despite falling 4-2 against the Fife Trojans, who are a perennial 2A powerhouse, on March 13 at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner, Cascade Christian put together a memorable second half outscoring the Trojans 2-1 in the final 40 minutes of regulation.
“Fife has nine players who play premier soccer (reserved for elite players),” Patefield said. “We didn’t give up. It would have been easy to give up when we got down 3-0. But we didn’t. I’m proud of our guys. We have a pretty young team and already are starting to gel together as a unit.”
Fife got off to sizzling start in the first half scoring three goals to take a 3-0 lead at halftime.
The Cougars finally got on the board seven minutes into the second half when mid-fielder Chris Peterson found Mike Jang wide open in front of Fife’s goal. Peterson crossed the ball from the right side to the center of the field with a picture perfect pass and Jang fired a shot low to the ground that whizzed by Fife’s goalie for the Cougars first goal of the night.
Peterson scored a goal of his own on a penalty kick in the 50th minute cutting Fife’s lead to 3-2. Peterson said he believed his team would have a chance to complete the comeback at this specific point of the contest.
“Coach gave us a pep talk at halftime and we came out strong in the second half. It was exhilarating. I was thinking at that time we have a chance to do this,” Peterson said. “Fife is a good team. They went to the state tournament last year.”
Fife dashed any hopes of a comeback when they found the back of the net for the first time of the second half in the 60th minute extending their lead to 4-2 with 20 minutes left in the contest.
Fife utilized their ball controlling abilities in the final minutes, using crisp passes to keep the ball away from the Cougars. The strategy paid off as the Cougars only managed one shot on goal in the last 15 minutes of the game.
While Cascade struggled to get their offense going in Fife’s defensive side of the field, the Trojans had no problems penetrating the Cougars’ defense. Even though Fife scored four goals, Cougars goalie Derrick Clifford had a superb game between the post. Clifford finished the game with 12 saves.
“We showed tonight that we’ve improved a lot since our first game,” Clifford said. “We’ll keep on getting better. If we keep focusing and apply what the coaches are teaching us in practice we should do really well this year.”