LACEY — In one of the wackiest 0-0 draws one could witness on a high school pitch Thursday night, Capital and North Thurston actually combined to find the back of the net three times.
Not one of them counted.
Moments before halftime, Capital sophomore forward Asher Fricke appeared to break the scoring spell with a goal past North Thurston goalkeeper William Doerrheim in the right side of the net. It took some time for the Cougars to realize through their initial celebration that the goal was negated due to an offside call on an out-of-position Cougar that touched the ball before it went in the net.
Shortly after the halftime break, Capital senior forward Tanner Fricke sliced the ball into the net on a fastbreak in the 49th minute, but, once again, the scoreboard operator didn’t move a finger as the official once again called offsides on Fricke. Fricke disagreed, as did his head coach Jeremy Richtmyre.
“I would debate that,” Richtmyre said of the call.
And in the 61st minute, North Thurston senior midfielder Eli Taylor scored on a header, but his teammate Ayden Valdez was offside.
As the Cougars and Rams met at midfield after the final whistle, the mood for a game that started with much on the line ended in dissatisfaction on both sides. Capital and North Thurston started the night in first and tied for second place, respectively, in the Puget Sound League Nisqually Division standings. With a victory, the Rams would have moved closer into contention for first place. But with the tie and Timberline’s 2-1 win over Peninsula Thursday, North Thurston slides into third place.
“I’m obviously disappointed to not get a win with all the preparation that we’ve had. We felt like our game has been pretty solid recently,” North Thurston coach Tristan Glazer said. “I thought the boys played a pretty solid game, and I’m really proud of their work ethic and their resolve.”
Both teams continued a streak in the draw, as Capital has not lost in its last eight contests, while North Thurston has three straight clean sheets. The 85 minutes of scoreless action not only consisted of the three nullified goals but also two yellow cards and a bizarre instance in the waning moments where play accidentally resumed briefly while an injured North Thurston player was being helped off the field.
“It was weird in some ways, but it’s high school soccer. High school soccer is pretty weird. Often,” Richtmyre said. “That’s one of the fun things about it. It’s not as clean as college or club soccer. It’s part of what makes high school soccer a little more special.”
Capital and North Thurston played a balanced and evenly matched game, with both squads defending passing lanes effectively and earning scoring opportunities on offense. One of the Rams’ best chances came in the fifth minute on a short free kick by Leonardo Cortez, but Cougars keeper Finnegan Landon swallowed it up.
North Thurston freshman striker Rayan Moustafa, who has scored six goals in his previous two games, nearly connected on a wild 20-yarder off a steal but clanked the strong kick off the post. He missed another shot from close range early in the second half, sailing it wide right.
Capital’s Asher Fricke was close to scoring in the 28th minute amidst a sea of bodies, but Doerrheim was calm through the chaos and plucked the ball out of harm’s way. Late in the second half, Jaden Annan couldn’t head the ball into the net off a corner kick. Perhaps the best opportunity for the Cougars was on a fastbreak in the 74th minute by Tanner Fricke, but Easton Sexton flew in and tackled Fricke before he could get a shot off.
The moment certainly gave Capital a flashback from its 1-1 against Olympia March 17 when the Bears made a similar tackle in the final seconds, also on a fastbreak by Fricke.
“We needed to be a little more composed in the middle third of the field. We tried to find our playmakers and hoped that they would make a play, but we mishit when we did that,” Richtmyre said. “The idea was OK, but we weren’t executing it well. That’s what stopped us from going forward, and Thurston pressured us well. We had a lack of composure.”
Glazer was impressed with how his defense performed. North Thurston was the first team since Silas on March 19 to keep Capital out of the net. He highlighted the play of senior defensive midfielder Balde Irakoze, who hounded Capital’s top scorers all night and consistently poked passes away from their intended targets.
“Defensively, we played really solid. We were shaky at times, but I think the boys played pretty well,” he said. “It’s really rare to find a player like Balde that can cover so much space around the pitch and be everywhere. He solves a lot of deficiencies that we have in our game defensively, and he’s a really special player.”
North Thurston (6-2-5, 3-1-2) now leads all of 3A soccer teams with five ties, and only one other school, Kentridge, across all Washington state teams has as many ties so far this season.
The Rams will next face Timberline (6-4-2, 4-1-1 Puget Sound League) Tuesday, April 21 in a crucial matchup for second place in the Nisqually Division.
Capital (10-1-2, 5-0-1 Puget Sound League) will host Lakes that same night.
