OLYMPIA — Every game, check the box.
Olympia girls soccer head coach Tamara Liska has driven home this message to her team as the regular season reaches its final weeks, the crunch time when each game is more important than the previous.
The box in question contains one word: win.
In a jam-packed top half of the 4A South Puget Sound League, the Olympia Bears have an opportunity to bypass teams in the standings over the next two weeks by checking that box.
That goal began Tuesday, Oct. 13, when the Bears knocked off Emerald Ridge 1-0 at Ingersoll Stadium to swap places with the Jaguars in the SPSL standings.
Junior Mika Meconi provided the game-winning goal in the 55th minute off a through ball from Parker Udo. Meconi collected the pass and advanced behind the defense, and with only Jaguars goalkeeper Ellie Alvarez in her path 15 yards away from the goal, she juked to the left past the keeper and scored in an empty net.
“It was a beautiful connection,” Liska said. “Great placement and composure. It was nice to seal the deal. Mika has a beautiful knack of, when that ball is served, maneuvering and getting around people.”
Olympia entered the game looking for a spark after taking its worst loss of the season against SPSL frontrunner Sumner in a 4-1 verdict last week. On Tuesday, the Bears were the immediate alphas against the Jaguars, sending a barrage of shots toward the goal in the first 20 minutes.
Parker Udo and Meconi earned several breakaways but were stonewalled by goalkeeper Grace Gapsch. The Bears’ best shot in the first half came on a free kick by Celeste Wilhelm, who managed to lift her attempt over Gapsch’s head but couldn’t sneak it into the net, instead banging off the crossbar in the 42nd minute. Malia Satre was also close to putting one through late in the first half but missed.
“We were playing well in the first half. We wanted to just keep that momentum forward,” Liska said. “The message at halftime was to keep doing what we were doing. We just were not finding the back of the net as we liked. I told them to keep pressing and moving and not get too frustrated.”
Following a scoreless first half, Makenzie Bendiksen immediately fired a shot to start the second half, but it was scooped up by Alvarez. Meconi created an open look in the 52nd minute and hooked it wide to the left.
That miss was three minutes before Meconi’s winner in the 55th off of her impressive move to get around Alvarez and pound it through. Olympia continued to blitz the Jaguars on both sides of the ball, hounding every pass on defense while the Bears centerbacks prevented Emerald Ridge’s speedsters from beating them over the top.
Meconi had two more close chances in the second half, one on a steal of a goal kick and another on a header from Hazel Emmans’ corner kick. While the offense continued to create looks, the defense continued to take looks away from the Jaguars, who did not record a shot in the second half.
“Our defense is so solid. We’ve shifted a little bit with injuries, but we have so many girls that can move back in the back line,” Liska said. “Their communication was on point.”
Olympia currently sits in sixth place in the SPSL at 4-2-1 (8-2-2 overall) and has four more regular season games. First, the Bears will host Rogers (Puyallup) on Thursday, Oct. 15, followed by road tests at Spanaway Lake and Bonney Lake and the regular season finale against South Kitsap on Oct. 27.
A top-seven seed in the SPSL will send Olympia back to the district tournament, and the Bears have no interest in settling for their current standing on the totem pole.
“We just need to keep playing the way we’re playing and find the back of the net a little sooner. We have to keep that composure and confidence and move the ball,” Liska said. “We need to focus on one game at a time and not focus ahead.”
