In a dominating performance, the Philomath High School girls soccer team moved on to the Class 4A quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over Klamath Union.
Wait, 1-0? Dominating?
Gallery: PHS girls soccer vs. Klamath Union
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 1-0 girls soccer win over Klamath Union in the first round of the 4A playoffs Wednesday.
That might sound strange in such a close game but Philomath’s defense rarely allowed the visitors to get much going offensively. So when the Warriors took a one-goal lead in the game’s fourth minute, it was more than enough to advance
“That’s playoff soccer and part of it is it’s going to be tough to score goals,” Warriors coach Mat Phelps said. “The teams that get here typically can limit goals and they have a good keeper and a good back line. But yeah, we felt like we controlled this game and there wasn’t really any scary chances that we gave up.”
Philomath’s goal came off the foot of freshman Kya Bolton. Taking a pass from senior Melea Lattin, Bolton beat two Klamath Union defenders near the top of the box and poked the ball past an off-balance goalkeeper into the right corner of the net from about 10 yards.
Lattin believes it was junior teammate Aspen Russell who dropped the ball to her before launching a kick over Klamath Union’s back line toward Bolton.
“Kya ran into it and she had to fight for it a little bit and then just placed it in the corner,” Lattin said.
Eighth-seeded Philomath (10-3-2) thought it had taken a 2-0 lead in the 18th minute over the ninth-seeded Pelicans (9-4-1) on another Bolton goal but it was disallowed after a short meeting between two of the officials. Instead, a penalty was called on the Warriors.
Phelps admitted that he thought the ruling on the play was a little bit of a surprise.
“It was kind of back-and-forth and physical here and there and some of the fouls you’re surprised about but that’s just part of the game,” he said. “Our job is to work hard no matter what the situation is and I thought the girls did a really good job of responding every single time.”
Teamwork obviously looms large on the pitch and senior Kateri Pindell believes the Warriors are in a good place for how they’ve been working together.
“We’re always able to cover for each other and we’re always talking,” Pindell said.
Philomath had several other chances, some a few that were very close to going in. In the 23rd minute, Bolton just missed high after an effective setup from senior teammate Natalie Dunn. And in the second half, senior Petra Hernandez got a pass to Bolton who attempted from a sharp angle going left to right. The ball hit the keeper’s hands and nearly snuck into the right corner of the net.
On another occasion, Dunn in the 71st minute almost scored on a header with the shot requiring an exceptional save by the Klamath Union keeper. The Warriors also had numerous corner kick opportunities and sophomore Annaleise Brown came oh so chose on two of them — missing on a header in the 61st minute and another on a well-connected shot that the Pelicans’ goalkeeper saved in the 66th minute.
Marist Catholic (14-1-1) is up next for Philomath after the Spartans eliminated Newport 3-1 in a first-round match Wednesday. The game is scheduled to take place Saturday but a start time is to be determined. The last time this scenario materialized two seasons ago, the game was played in the evening.
“If they are our opponent, our girls will be ready and excited for that and feel like we can play with them and anybody in the state,” Phelps said.
The two schools have developed a rivalry over the past three seasons with a series of intense matchups. Marist has won all four times against Philomath with wins of 2-0 and 2-0 in 2022, 3-2 in 2023 and 3-1 earlier this season. That second 2-0 win two years ago occurred in the 4A quarterfinals during a season in which the Spartans went on to win the state title.
Asked if Marist is an intimidating opponent with that recent history looming in the background, Pindell said, “I think yes and no.” She knows Philomath was shorthanded when they played Sept. 12.
“We didn’t have five of our starters but I think since we have everybody back, we’ll put up a good fight,” Pindell said.
Marist finished runner-up in 2023 and this season is sitting in the bracket as the No. 1 seed.
“We definitely are going to have to work hard if we play Marist but I think we can do it,” Lattin said. “It’s a really good group and we work well together, we all get along and we’ve been working really hard in practice.”
