Class 3A: Meadowdale rallies, wins title in overtime

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CAMAS — The Meadowdale High School boys soccer team remained determined.

It's a good thing a two-goal deficit didn't faze the Mavericks.

Meadowdale rallied for three unanswered goals to erase a two-goal deficit. Persistence paid off when junior Aaron Roberts' golden goal with 10.9 seconds left in the first overtime stunned Mount Rainier 3-2 last night in the Class 3A state title match at Doc Harris Stadium.

The Mavericks (20-2-1) captured the school's first crown in boys soccer in its first appearance in the state-final match. Junior forward Solly Gold supplied two goals and the assist on Roberts' winning run up the right side in the 85th minute.

Roberts ran onto a perfectly placed pass from Gold and hammered a running 12-yarder inside the near post to trigger a massive Meadowdale dogpile near midfield. In 2003, the Mavs ended a 23-year state drought and took third.

"I'll tell you this, it's a lot better than third," Roberts said of winning the state title. "There's only one team happy after state. When we tied it, I knew we had a chance, because we had the momentum."

Mount Rainier (16-5-1) led 2-0 with 24 minutes left in regulation, but the Rams couldn't keep the Mavs' momentum from building. The Rams were denied the school's fifth state crown in boys soccer in their seventh finals appearance, keeping them from moving into sole possession of second among 4A and 3A titlists.

"That was a pretty amazing comeback," said Gold, who twisted an ankle on his first goal in the 66th minute, but never came out of the game. "Down 2-0, I figured we had a chance, but it was not looking good."

Gold leaped high above a crowd and scored on a short header off a beautiful arcing free kick from 25 yards away on the right side to knot the game at 2-2 in the 71st minute. Gold's perfect timing allowed him to tuck the ball neatly inside the left post.

It was Gold's third goal in as two days after he tallied one in Friday's 2-1 overtime shootout win in the semifinals over Shorecrest. Gold also scored a goal in last year's semifinals to give him four goals and an assist in the last two state Final Fours.

Gold finished the season with a team-high 16 goals and seven assists. Roberts finished with 15 goals.

Steve Pirotte tallied his team-high 17th goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 54th minute to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. Pirotte's PK into the left corner was set up when Colin Kosco was called for a hand ball on an attempt to clear a bouncing ball off the goal line.

The lead grew to 2-0 when Jordan Duke punched in a rebound shot in the 56th minute. Duke, who has four goals this season, followed home a Brad Rokkan shot off Meadowdale goalkeeper Eric Marty.

Duke, a senior forward, also tallied a goal in Friday's 2-1 overtime shootout win over Cheney.

"Second place is good enough for me," Mount Rainier coach Dave Hanson said. "These kids are state champions in my mind. These kids have gone through more turmoil than any team I've seen in my 21 years of coaching.

"It was just how long could we keep battling? It was all momentum changes. It was back and forth in that game."

Meadowdale kept its hopes alive when Gold blasted a short rebound shot into the upper middle portion of the net past Mount Rainier's drawn-out keeper Dustin Eppler. Gold controlled teammate Brandon Rodriguez's shot off a Rams defender and knocked it in the net to cut the Mount Rainier lead to 2-1 in the 66th minute.

"Solly's incredible," Meadowdale coach Darrell Hamilton said. "He's been like that for us. When he goes against good players, he always plays his best."

Shorecrest 1, Cheney 0 (3rd-4th places) — Taylor Starkey volleyed in a left-footed shot from 14 yards away in the 13th minute to give the Scots (14-5-4) third place.

Starkey got behind the defense for the 1-on-1 blast into the right corner of the net. The win gave Shorecrest its fifth third-place finish under 15th-year head coach Teddy Mitalas.

Scots junior goalkeeper Rylan Hawkins registered his 14th shutout of the season as the team bounced back from a tough 2-1 overtime shootout loss to WesCo rival Meadowdale Friday in the semifinals.

"I think we should've been in the finals," Mitalas said. "It's about who has the attitude and we had it, but we couldn't put things away against Meadowdale. We put all our might into the Meadowdale game."

Shorecrest will return 16 of 22 players, including nine starters. The fourth-place finish by Cheney (17-7) is the school's best state result.

"We've got the whole corps of players back pretty much," Mitalas said. "We should be expected to be here again. We'll have a lot of our guys playing together after the season and that should help."

Hawkins gave up just three goals in the Scots' final five playoff matches. Shorecrest's last title in boys soccer came in 1976.