Spartans recover from early struggles, earn league win

Don Braman stood at midfield of Skyline Stadium, letting out a deep sigh into the cold fall night — part relief, part frustration.

“If I breathe for a minute and reflect on where we are, we are in a position to do great things. But, if we play like we did tonight, we won’t have our destiny in our own hands,” he said.

His Spartans escaped with a 1-0 soccer victory over winless Garfield Tuesday night, after out-shooting the Bulldogs 29-6.

“Our girls did not step up and play the level of soccer they’re capable of playing,” he said. “If we hope to be better than mediocre, we need to play much better than that.”

After missing their first 17 shot attempts, junior Emily Anderson capitalized for the Spartans in the 59th minute. Senior forward Kiara Williams took the ball at midfield and beat the Garfield defense up the left sideline. She dribbled within 5 yards of the goal, sending a cross to Anderson, who booted the ball to the back of the net with her right foot.

“She just got the cross off when we really needed it in that time of the game,” Anderson said. “She made the play, she got it into me, so the goal is really hers.”

The assist was Williams’ fifth of the season. She also leads the team with five goals. It was Anderson’s fourth goal of the year. The duo have combined for nine of Skyline’s 12 goals this season.

“The two of them — when they work hard all night and work together, good things are going to happen for us,” Braman said.

The Spartans’ defense came up big in the final 21 minutes, led by goalkeeper Tina Vargas. The freshman earned her second straight shutout after filling in for injured Jill Sitka, who is out with a sore hip.

“She was really composed, confident in the back,” Braman said. “She didn’t have to work too hard, but partly because she had organized things so well in front of her.”

The victory improved Skyline’s record to 5-1 in the KingCo 4A and 6-2-1 overall. While they might not have played to the level they expect of themselves, the Spartans are fully aware they can’t come out with many more similar performances — especially against teams with winning records.

“It was just slow warm-up,” Anderson said. “We need to work harder. We know what we have to do, and we’re going to work really, really hard to refocus and prepare for our next game against Woodinville.”

The Spartans face the

Falcons at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at Pop Keeney Stadium in Bothell. As of press time, Skyline was in a tie with Eastlake for first place in the KingCo Crest Division. Woodinville leads the KingCo Crest Division with a 5-1, 7-2 record.

Issaquah shuts out Newport

Issaquah defeated Newport 3-0, earning three goals from three different players. Lindsay Stoll gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the first half, and Kristen Maris and Margaret Rauch tacked on second-half goals to secure the victory. Nicole Eddings earned the shutout.

Issaquah improved to 4-1-1 in league and 6-2-2 overall.

Eastlake wins fifth straight

Eastlake scored a season-high six goals Tuesday night, defeating Roosevelt 6-2.

Emily Hurd and Emma Levy scored two apiece, while MacKenzie Garrett and Ann Heine added scores. Hurd opened things up with a goal in the first minute and Levy added her first score eight minutes later.

Eastlake improved to 5-1 in league and 8-1 overall with the victory.

Crusaders fall to West Seattle

Eastside Catholic lost a close game, 1-0, to West Seattle Tuesday night. The Crusaders allowed a goal in the 35th minute.

Eastside Catholic is now 2-3 in league and 2-4-1 overall.

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