Defense was the name of this soccer game as two familiar foes battled in a non-conference contest.

In the unseasonably warm afternoon sun, the Eagles from Evergreen Lutheran hosted the Grizzlies from Bear Creek in a warm-up contest to Sea-Tac league play. Both teams have had strong teams over the past three years with each team participating in the district playoffs one year ago.
The head coach for the Eagles, Stan Cole, is in his fourth season taking Evergreen Lutheran all the way to the finals at the WIAA State Championships. They came up a bit short, losing in a shootout to La Salle.

Coach Cole knows how tough it is to get back to that level, especially graduating four key seniors.

“Grace Lorette( 2008 SeaTac League MVP) is a difficult person to replace. She was literally everywhere.” Cole said. “Kailey Fuegmann and Kaitlyn Weber (both seniors at EL) have stepped in and really challenged their teammates to improve.”

Coach Cole believes in being defensively strong and with senior keeper, Lindsay Sandwith, it was quite strong. Sandwith came up big on several plays, squelching crosses and corner kicks from the Bear Creek squad.

Both teams turned away run opportunities to score and the half finished 0 – 0. The second half began with the Eagles dominating midfield play, and forwards Megan Velario and Taylor Swanson putting the pressure on the Grizzly half-backs.

The zilch tie was broken with a put back off the foot of junior, Taylor Swanson. The deflection came from a free kick by Kailey Fuegmann at the 8:13 mark of the second half.

Taylor Swanson found the corner and that decided the game.

The Eagles are 3-3 on the season and will enter league play beginning Monday, a 3:30 p,m, game at the Starfire Complex in Tukwilla against Seattle Lutheran. Bear Creek is now 2-2 and will begin their league play on Monday as well.