Lake Stevens Soccer: Serious Post-Season Contenders, Despite Loss to Kamiak
Discover more from The Journal 425
Lake Stevens Soccer: Serious Post-Season Contenders, Despite Loss to Kamiak
Highlights from the matchup of Wesco unbeatens…Contest goes Knights’ way 1-0 as Kamiak captain Taylor Beirne scores decisive PK…Lake’s Hopkins & Courtenay unleash withering 2nd half attack
Viking Soccer: A Serious Post Season Threat
Senior forwards Zoe Hopkins and Maya Courtenay were forces of nature, creating multiple chances out of nothing with sheer skill, determination and two-player interplay. Their combined output is something to behold.
LAKE STEVENS — The Lake Stevens Vikings lost a tough 1-0 decision to the visiting first place Kamiak Knights Tuesday, in a hard-fought contest that featured two crucial, decisive calls that broke against the Vikings, in favor of Kamiak.
Lake, winners of four straight, came into the contest 5-1 — ranked 12th in the MaxPreps 4A rankings — but Kamiak sat just three spots back in the state rankings and had shown good form of their own, with an unbeaten 3-0 mark in Wesco play.
The contest’s lone goal came courtesy of Kamiak senior captain Taylor Beirne, who calmly slotted away a left-foot penalty kick in the bottom left corner of the goal, in the opening moments of a frenetic second half.
Kamiak senior captain Taylor Beirne slots home the decisive goal via penalty kick awarded through Alyia Johnson run. Via J425.
Beirne’s goal was setup by a penalty call that came against the run of play and seemingly out of the blue.
Senior Alyia Johnson forced the action for the Knights, cutting across the box from right to left, moving away from goal after a hard, low cross from the left-footed strike of senior Elizabeth Plitnik.
Johnson brushed a Lake defender as she got a foot on the cross, and perhaps that was enough for the referee to award the penalty. Aggressive runs and passes generate rewards — and the awarded penalty needed to be scored — which Beirne settled like Steph Curry stroking a free throw.
1-0 Kamiak, with 20 minutes remaining.
Lake’s Withering Attack
From that point on, Lake continued a withering offensive on the Kamiak goal, pressing the attack deep in Kamiak territory.
Senior forwards Zoe Hopkins and Maya Courtenay were forces of nature, creating multiple chances out of nothing with sheer skill, determination and two-player interplay. Their combined output is something to behold.
(Also on display for Lake tonight — the youthful talent of the squad and the excellent goalkeeping of sophomore Tessa Anastasi. Anastasi possesses exceptional skill with the ball at hand & foot, demonstrating the refined ability of a modern goalkeeper with the ability to distribute, shot-stop & sweeper-keep as necessary. )
Vikings Impressive in Hard-Fought Loss
Highlight: Zoe Hopkins first half attacks. Via J425.
Hopkins had two near misses late in the first half and was constantly applying pressure in the second half, showcasing a deadly long throw the likes of which wouldn’t be out of place at early 2010s Stoke City.
Courtenay played the goal hungry number nine role and reigned down a series of strikes in the second half, forcing saves twice, barely missing the top corner once and seeing a breakaway wiped off the slate because of a stoppage behind the play.
Hopkins peppered the Knights defense with dangerous laser-beam throw-ins, some of which breached the 18 yard box, creating havoc and forced clearances that yielded secondary attack opportunities. 1
Hopkins and Courtenay were the most dangerous attackers on the pitch, creating multiple scoring chances in both halves.
Hopkins nearly scored on a breakaway late in the first half before catching Kamiak’s attention right before halftime with a skipping missile from 30 yards out that forced a save.
Highlight: Zoe Hopkins creating havoc from the perimeter with long throws and D1 skill. Via J425.
Then, early in the second, Hopkins both solved the throw-in conundrum (the problem where her phenomenal throw-in ability takes the forward off the pitch momentarily) and seemingly channeled Zidane in a moment of football genius: Hopkins long-tossed directly into the feet of a Kamiak defender who booted it back ou…Establishing position back in play, Hopkins received with a soft touch and then promptly beat TWO Kamiak defenders inside the box, darting left … then back right before rifling a searing shot towards goal, the strike whistling just wide of the frame.
Minutes later freshman Noelani Tupua broke free down the left side and had one defender to beat en route to the goal. That’s when Tupua and the Kamiak wing who was pacing her were clattered to the turf via a “get-the-damn-ball-or-here’s-the-red-card” slide tackle from Kamiak’s excellent Elizabeth Plitnick.
Highlight: Noelani Tupua wing runs. Via J425
After review it looks like Plitnick indeed took the ball first, but that tackle came in with such force and violence that one wondered if the ref would signal play on. He did, as Tupua and the Kamiak collateral damage picked themselves up, Lake forward Maya Courtenay arrived in on the scene of the carnage, gained the loose ball and promptly fired a low, hard strike on-target, forcing a save.
Lake’s dangerous and opportunistic number nine (Courtenay) had at least four shots on target that J425 counted. But it was the shot she couldn’t take that proved decisive. More on that momentarily.
First, another near miss by the Viks as Courtenay again applied pressure.
Softly trapping a Kamiak clearance attempt outside the right corner of the 18 yard box, Courtenay skillfully redirected the touch a yard out in front of her, lining up an inside-of-the-foot probing dart curling for the far left corner.
Highlight: Maya Courtenay second half chances. Via J425
The Kamiak goalkeeper stood neutralized as the shot looked for the top left corner, but instead of nestling in the net it glided juuuuust wide. And another sterling effort from a Viking senior striker went without reward.
Moments later sophomore standout Keira Tupua got on the end of a Hopkins throw down the left side, maneuvering the ball onto her left foot outside the box, creating room for the strike, before sending anothe on target attempt, forcing yet another Kamiak save.
Tough Whistle - Viks’ Penalty Opportunity Denied 🙅♂️ 🦓
Ion know about Wesco, but in the Premier League they call this “last defender preventing a goal scoring scenario”. Zoe Hopkins was threw off the Maya Courtenay assist, and she had an unmarked Noelani Tupua with her 2 on 1 with the keeper. Via J425.
One minute later it was another rampaging Lake attack, again with Courtenay showing off tremendous skill on the right side, deadening a clearance before sending a thru ball to Hopkins, streaking down the center.
Hopkins let the ball run across her face before picking up the dribble squared to the goal, with the final Knight defender directly in her sights.
With Hopkins moving at pace and the defender stationary at the 18 yard box, the Viking senior forward had the goal scoring situation setup for either her own equalizer — or perhaps the assist to an uncovered Noelani Tupua joining her on the left, looking for a thru ball or a tap in.
Hopkins pushed the ball slightly to her right and hit the gas to bypass the defender.
With the ball already behind her, the Kamiak defender had no play on the ball, and instead plowed into the side of Hopkins at the top of the 18, taking the Viking attacker out of the play and letting the dangerous attack dribble roll slowly into the hands of the keeper.
The final defender had cleared out a Lake attacker in a clear goal scoring situation, with no play on the ball, and the ref signalled play on. So what would’ve been a red card and and a penalty wound up yet another unrewarded bit of genius from Courtenay and Hopkins.
Pressure for an Equalizer Builds
As the second half wound down, the Vikings pressed harder, picking up tempo looking for the equalizer.
Down the right side with 12 minutes left, Courtenay let loose with the latest in a series of sizzling attempts, smoking a low strike from the right angle that forced the the Kamiak goalkeeper to dive headlong in an effort that — instead of sending the shot away — merely redirected the goal-bound strike across the empty face of the goal, where it rolled JUST out of the reach of a late Hopkins run…and barely wide of the post (see Courtenay highlight above).
The ref whistles a stoppage behind the ball as Lake’s Courtenay is through on goal in the final minutes. Via J425
Inside five minutes remaining it appeared Lake finally had their break. Instead, it was the second key refereeing intervention that harmed Lake Stevens. A long ball from left back came into Hopkins midfield, center circle.
As the forward prepared to redirect the long pass, Courtenay broke on a central run. Hopkins nodded the ball towards the open turf, behind the final line of defense, and directly in Courtenay’s run.
Clear through the defense, Lake’s nine collected the through ball and pushed it forward for the breakaway — but as she did the whistle sounded.
In the middle of a breakaway inside the final five minutes, the referee stopped play during what seemed to be a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
It took a minute or so for the Kamiak player to receive treatment, and in that time Courtenay stood alone, with the ball, in the opposing 18 yard box, as if to say to the ref “this is where I’m supposed to be bruh.”
Two minutes later the final whistle blew, with Kamiak taking the one - nil victory.
Viking Soccer Notebook
As a journalist taking in just my second soccer match this season it was impossible not to be impressed with the Vikings’ heart and talent. I covered basketball quite a bit so I was aware that the Tupua sisters are generational athletes but I just didn’t know about stars like the Seattle University-bound Zoe Hopkins and the incredibly dangerous #9 Maya Courtenay.
The level of pressure Hopkins applied with an endless array of long throws and Bakayo Saka-level on the ball skill is breathtaking. Her throws create a goal scoring situation every time and put tremendous stress on the defense. In fact, I was surprised (given that it was a conference match against an unbeaten rival) that Lake didn’t double down on the advantage provided by Hopkins’ throws by stacking the box with all but one or two players. It’s hard to imagine a better ready-made end-of-game equalizer situation than her sideline-to-the-middle-of the-6-yard-box throws. Hell why not pull the keeper up and leave one of the quicker backs or wings at midfield to mop up? But hey I’m hardly an expert I can barely win on Fifa anymore.
And while Hopkins’ throws are an advantage, don’t interpret my discussion of them as an inference that the throws are a defining part of Hopkins’ game. Hardly. She’s an incredibly refined skillful attacker.
Take a look at those two plays in the highlight…one where she hurdles a defender like it’s nothing as she shepherds a ball out of bounds…so she can create a throw in situation…and the other where she collects a clearance off a throw and beats two defenders inside the 18 with close-quarters skill.
Speaking of skill, what about Courtenay? Sheesh what a forward.
Her through ball releasing Hopkins should’ve been rewarded with an assist, two of her shots deserve highlight status even though they just missed, she put an incredible volume of shots on target and in the pressure situations she twice performed at the level required to gain the equalizer (the through ball to Hopkins and the inexplicable stoppage when she was through herself inside the final minutes).
I was also struck by future visions of Noelani Tupua tormenting defenders.
She’s not even a high schooler yet but the six foot tall hoops star was a problem for defenders.
What kind of problem? The opponent’s dead run loses ground to her on-the-ball straight ahead speed, partially because one of her stride equals two for some opponents.
Watch the defender that’s marking her try to get goal side of her here, and keep in mind that typically a player on ball sacrifices maybe 40 percent of top sprint speed. If it’s hard to keep up with her now? Imagine in the coming years. With sophomores Anastasi and midfielder/forward Keira Tupua, plus Keira’s sister — the aforementioned freshman attacking mid Noelani Tupua showing tremendous burst and on ball skill — Lake is exceptionally well-stocked for the present and future with talented players. - KTH
Kamiak moves 8-3-1 overall with a 4-0 record in Wesco play.
Lake Stevens is now 5-2 with a 2-1 record in conference play.
The Vikings are at Mariner Thursday.
Given the fact that one can’t be offside from a throw-in, Hopkins’ rocket throw is a huge weapon for the Vikings. The only problem is that when Hopkins throws it in, she takes herself off the pitch.
See also:
