In the final minute of regulation in the Class 4A state soccer championship game, Issaquah sophomore Claudia Longo lined for a corner-kick in a 1-1 tie against the West Valley Rams.
Longo’s pass on the corner-kick couldn’t had been more perfect. Eagles’ senior Madison Phan rose above the defense on a header shot which found the back of the net, clinching the Eagles 2-1 win against the Rams in the state title game on Nov. 21 at Sparks Stadium in downtown Puyallup.
“We’ve always been great in the air. Madison has been great in the air for four years and she capped her career off with a ridiculous goal. It was fantastic,” Issaquah head coach Tom Bunnell said.
Phan knew as she saw Longo’s pass fast approaching her what was on the line on that play.
“I knew I had to get it. There was no question about it,” Phan said. “Even though the stadium lights were in my eyes I knew I had to get that goal no matter what.”
Longo said preparation paid off on the game-winning score.
“Madison was in a great position. My teammates know where I put the ball so their runs were great,” Longo said. “It was in a tight spot but (Phan) pulled it off. It was a fantastic goal by her.”
The Eagles dominated the entire game by a statistical standpoint. They outshot Camas 19-2 and won the corner-kick battle 10-2 but found themselves in a nail-biter nonetheless. West Valley’s Kendra Hanses gave her team a 1-0 lead after scoring in the 34th minute of play. The Eagles tied the game at 1-1 when Longo’s free kick from 30 yards out curved perfectly into the upper left corner of the goal with 23 minutes left in regulation. Longo said her team wasn’t deterred despite trailing after the first half.
“We knew at halftime what we had to do. We took care of business in the second half. Every person played their role and everyone did great,” she said.
The Eagles won their first state championship since they captured the Class 3A state crown in 2007. The eight-year hiatus is officially a thing of the past.
“I can’t even begin to tell you what this means to us,” Bunnell said. “We were becoming the 1995 Mariners. Now I’m so relieved, I can’t stand it. We want to make a run with this group for a couple of more (titles).”
Eagles defeat Camas in semifinal matchup
The outcome of the semifinal matchup between the Camas Papermakers and Issaquah Eagles couldn’t be decided in 80 minutes of regulation or two five-minute overtime sessions.
The contest came down to a penalty kick shootout to determine the winner. Issaquah outscored Camas 3-2 in penalty shots earning a 1-0 win against Camas on Nov. 20 in the Class 4A state semifinals at Sparks Stadium in downtown Puyallup. Eagles players scoring on their penalty shots included Kirstie Johnson, Kaylene Pang and Longo. Issaquah keeper Anna Miller blocked Camas’s Perrin Belzer’s shot to the lower left side of the goal, clinching the victory.
Bunnell wasn’t surprised to see Miller come through with a berth in the state finals on the line in the overtime shootout.
“I know Anna very well. That is a goalkeepers dream. I have always told her you should love to be in that kind of situation and she did,” Bunnell said. “It was just awesome.”
Miller relishes the one-on-one showdown of overtime shootouts to determine the winner.
“We practice penalty kicks at practice. I have gotten good at watching the player all the way down. You see they’re going to look up at one point,” Miller said. “You just got to keep looking for that, then you just pick a side and you’ve just got to go.”
