By Ed Shepherd
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

It was one of the more incredible comebacks one will ever see in the game of soccer.

Mount Rainier trailed, 1-0, as Spanaway Lake scored a goal with 10 minutes to play in the game Thursday, but the Rams came back with two scores in the final six minutes for a rousing state-qualifying 2-1 win over the Sentinels in a WIAA District 3 4A playoff at Curtis High School.

"Don't see it too often," said Rams coach Steve Mohn, asked to recall any ending like that in his soccer days. "One of the better games I've been in, as a player or a coach."

Mohn's seen a lot of soccer action, too, as a player, having played on the University of W ashington men's soccer team, helping them get to the second round of the NCAA college tournament his junior and senior seasons. And Mohn's also the coach of the Highline Community College men's soccer team now.

The Rams won the South Puget Sound League Northwest Division with an 8-4-1 record and won eight of their last nine. And the one non-win wasn't a loss but a tie.

So, in a game of back-and-forth action between the Rams and Sentinels, except the foe dominating control the first 20-30 minutes of the first half, this game came down to the final 10 minutes. Those fireworks started when the Sentinels scored on a counterattack breakaway, as the left wing put the ball in the net as the Rams keeper, Alex Weaver, came out of goal trying desperately to cut off the angle at the corner of the 18-yard-box.

The Sentinels' goal here would be a foreshadowing of how this game would end in such a crazy, opposite way.

The Rams could have, after that late Sentinels' goal, just thrown in the towel at that point in this loser-out game. But, from the top down, of the Rams' player hierarchy, that wasn't an option.

After the goal, what was everyone thinking?

"It's not over yet, not over 'til the whistle blows," said Steven Chu, a Rams' senior captain along with senior Tino Lopez-Slish. "That's what gets us through situations like this. Have to keep your heads up."

So, battling as the season looked to be winding down for the Rams, prayers were answered, in the way of Chu taking a free kick from 40 yards out. The ball flew into the middle and a Sentinel, standing just outside the 6-yard box, headed the ball straight out. And, not clearing the ball wide proved deadly, as Rams' sophomore Daniel Contreras was there at the top of the 18-yard-box. He trapped the bouncing ball and hit it perfectly into the right corner, upper 'V',' with 6:00 showing on the scoreboard.

Contreras wasn't sure about that going as planned before it happened, as one might guess the emotion and such winnowing through the veins of a player who knows his season is so close to over with a loss.
"Not really, to be honest," said Contreras, asked if he had a good feeling about putting the ball in the net when it flew his way. "Just was the moment I needed to so something big for our team. We were pretty desperate, needed anything we could get."

And, with that goal, the Rams breathed with new life, and it wasn't even three minutes later that Lopez-Slish got the ball on the left side from a nice feed forward by Eron Lugo. And Lopez-Slish made a big statement for his team, running onto the ball, with a defender coating him, and also the Sentinels' keeper rushing to the corner of the 18-yard-box, to cut off the angle, stop disaster from happening.

Lopez-Slish smoothly shot the ball by the keeper, who was unable to adjust in time to get a block on the ball. That made it 2-1 Rams.

The goal, from the left side, 18-yard-box corner was, exactly, scored the same way as the Sentinels' goal that, seemingly, with only 10 minutes left to play, would be this game's winner.

But Lopez-Slish made that foreshadowing come true.

"I knew they were tired, had to keep going, to stay composed, put it away," said Lopez-Slish.

Pandemonium started, in spite of the fact that 3:30 remained in the game. Players went to their fans, to Lopez-Slish, who was pulling off his shirt, after the Rams' captains' game-winning, dramatic goal.

"We came out pretty flat in the first half," said Mohn. "The second half was much better. We created a lot of opportunities. Thankfully, we were able to put two in at the end of the game."

And, Mohn was talking to his excited, statebound, team after the game.

"That was a great comeback, incredible effort, and that's a testament to how hard you guys have worked for the entire year," said Mohn.