Prep boys soccer: As postseason begins, Central Valley confident of return to 4A Final Four

The future looks bright for the Central Valley boys soccer team, which is looking for new worlds to conquer after a clean run through the Greater Spokane League.

“We’re just playing our style, and the kids know what to expect,” CV coach Andres Monrroy said.

As usual, the Bears expect a third straight trip to the State 4A semifinals, and why shouldn’t they?

“I like where we are right now,” Monrroy said.

In one way, the Bears and the GSL are in uncharted territory. The old district format has been scrapped in favor of a regional that could send two league teams to state – or none.

Unfortunately, that’s what happened to the GSL girls last fall, including Monrroy’s girls squad. However, he’s confident that a more experienced boys team will find a way to state.

The Bears (11-2) have won 10 straight, but narrow wins over Lewis and Clark (in a shootout) and Ferris (in overtime) give Monrroy that the GSL will be well represented.

“We’re one of the toughest leagues in the state,” said Monrroy, whose club will play Richland at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Spokane Falls Community College.

Perhaps the biggest loser in the new format is LC, which fell to third place in the final standings after a 1-0 loss to Ferris last week. That sends the Tigers (12-3) to Walla Walla on Wednesday. Win that and they could face CV again on Friday.

“We’ve been in this situation before,” LC coach Mica Lamb said. “Last spring, we had to win several matches away from home to qualify for state. We’re looking to repeat that formula again this season.”

Lamb added that he doesn’t see much value in continuing to play GSL teams in the old district format.

“I also like the double elimination, but I hate that we only get two two berths to state this year,” he said. … “There will be some really good teams eliminated earlier than they should.”

In the other half of the bracket, GSL runner-up Ferris (9-5) earned a home match at 5 p.m. Wednesday against Hanford.

In the same bracket, University beat Gonzaga Prep 2-1 on Monday to advance to Wednesday’s regional match at Pasco.

3A

The other big winner last week was North Central, which is 4-10 overall but finished best among the 3A teams in the GSL.

That means the Indians are off until Saturday, when they host Mt. Spokane or Kamiakin in a match that puts the winner on the verge of a state play-in berth.

In first-round action Wednesday, Mt. Spokane is at Kamiakin for the right to face NC. In the other bracket, Rogers will face Southridge at 7:30 p.m. at SFCC. The winner is at Kennewick on Saturday.

2A

Unlike the GSL, the Great Northern League is sticking with a district format. Thanks to a wire-to-wire run through the league, East Valley (13-2 overall, 11-1 GNL) earned a spot in the District 7 title game to be played next Tuesday.

First up are a pair of loser-out matches on Thursday. Fourth-place Clarkston is at Cheney and fifth-place West Valley travels to Pullman. Both matches begin at 4 p.m.

The winners play Saturday for the right to face EV.

1A

Johnny Quandt scored the winning goal in the overtime and Newport defeated visiting Lakeside 3-2 in a district playoff game on Tuesday. Kai Thomas and Martin Roca scored goals for Newport with Kade Zorica assisting on both. Lukas Ousley and Jeffrey Friedman recorded of Lakeside’s goals.

In the other district match, Chase Kanamu scored a goal off a corner kick in the 70th minute to lift Colville over Medical Lake 3-2. Albert Cisneros scored twice within six minutes to open the second half to give Colville a 2-0 lead. Medical Lake fired back with two goals by Nick Rosenbeck in the 59th and 67th minutes.

The winners play on Thursday at SFCC at 7 p.m., but both are guaranteed berths in glue games scheduled for May 13.