Junior forward Evelyn Saldivar scored a hat trick and Lynden girls soccer punched its ticket to state after a 5-0 win over Cedarcrest in a winner-to-state, loser-out match of the district tournament Saturday, Nov. 4 at Civic Field.
After a loss in their 2A District 1 opener, the Lions (13-4-3) needed four straight do-or-die wins to earn the second and final state bid from the district. Sehome has the other bid after beating Cedarcrest 4-1 in the district title game Oct. 31.
The Lions did exactly what they needed, steamrolling Sedro-Woolley 7-1, beating Bellingham 2-1 before exacting revenge on Archbishop Murphy with a 1-0 victory to face Cedarcrest on Saturday.
After that district-opening loss, Lynden coach Clark Bourgault remained confident in his team’s ability to keep fighting.
“I told them that adversity we go through is going to play off at the end of the season,” Bourgault said. “And we really hit our stride after that first loss in districts.”
Despite being the lower seed Saturday, Lynden took it to Cedarcrest from the get-go.
The Lions’ dynamic start was sparked by Saldivar winning a penalty after a rash challenge in the box before converting the penalty to open the scoring in the 9th minute.
Cedarcrest couldn’t get out of their own end when they committed a foul right outside the box in the 22nd minute. Saldivar fired a powerful shot that was saved off the post by goalie Joey Ward, who made her return after leaving the district title game injured. Lynden junior forward Mallary Villars was first to the rebound and scored to double the Lions’ lead at 2-0.
Right after the second goal, Lynden continued their dominance and Villars used two smooth headers to get around both center backs before scoring her second goal of the day with a volley finish in the 26th minute.
Saldivar finished off a flawless first half from her team by ripping a shot near post past the keeper from a tight angle in the 38th minute to make it 4-0.
Saldivar said the team worked hard for each other, and the high energy the team played with led to the win.
“I just wanted it. I wanted to win and I wanted to score,” Saldivar said.
Lynden slammed the door shut on Cedarcrest in the 52nd minute when Villars made a silky move that sat her defender down, and she crossed it into Saldivar who scored to complete her hat trick.
“It makes it easy as a coach,” Bourgault said. “They’ve been leading us all year.”
Lynden awaits the WIAA’s seeding to see who it faces in the first round of the 2A state tournament that begins Tuesday, Nov. 7, with sites yet to be determined.
