DUVALL — She had to fight through the tears to get the message across.
For only the sixth time in her debut season on the sideline, Tumwater High School girls soccer coach Abbey Bergquist had to address her team after a loss. It just had a bit more emotion than the previous five.
Yet she made sure to keep things in perspective.
“It is much larger than that, even,” Bergquist stated. “At the beginning of the year, we needed to decide what we wanted. This was pretty monumental for them and I’m really proud of them for making it happen.”
The speed at the top between Sophia Hobson and Laine McKenzie proved to be too much and it sparked No. 7 Cedarcrest to a 3-0 victory over the 10th-seeded Thunderbirds in the Round of 16 of the Class 2A state tournament at Cedarcrest High School on Wednesday night.
Chalk held serve in the bracket and the Red Wolves (16-4-1) will take No. 2 West Valley (Spokane) in the quarterfinals.
“As a team, it was tough coming off the field, but realizing how far we made it, making state is a huge accomplishment,” senior forward Kayla Pope said. “Honestly, we went out in the best way possible.”
Pope and the seven other seniors did something twice in their prep careers other Tumwater groups couldn’t: Make the state tourney twice.
They were freshmen in 2022. Still, even they were unsure what the prospects of the 2025 season looked like. Graduation hit Tumwater hard with several key cogs gone, including one of the most potent goal scorers in Emalyn Shaffer.
When Bergquist got the job back in February, one of her items on the agenda was to meet with the seniors.
It ended up being the starting point to a memorable season.
“They made the decision at that moment to be the best senior class they could be,” Bergquist said. “They lived up to that.”
“It set our goals straight,” Pope added. “We set out early in March and knowing that we had a long road ahead of us, really helped us get through (those) hardships.”
The T-Birds win streak against league foes remain unblemished now through seven years. They rebounded from a District 4 semifinal loss to win two elimination games. The 14-win season put a bow on another double digit win campaign.
Even though she held her jersey to her head and couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, Pope left the turf forever grateful for what these last four years have meant to her.
“It is where I found my peace of happiness,” Pope said.
Cedarcrest got out to an early lead in the sixth minute on a Sophia Hobson goal that was delivered on a cross by Laine McKenzie. The same duo connected in the 35th minute after McKenzie kept the ball in play on the counter-attack.
McKenzie, just hours prior to kickoff, signed her national letter of intent for track and field at Michigan. The Red Wolves also scored in the 23rd minute after the T-Birds failed to clear the ball off a corner kick.
“The areas in which they capitalized were things we went over and it is unfortunate we missed those moments,” Bergquist said. “We just didn't take care of the things that we said we were going to do.”
The best chance Tumwater had in the first half was a counter-attack of its own. Pope beat her defender, made an inside move and fired a shot that caromed off the top bar and Cedarcrest eventually cleared the ball.
For the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Thunderbirds were aggressive and had a couple corner kicks, but nothing threatened to light up the scoreboard.
“They were beating us to the ball and they wanted it today,” Pope said. “I tried my hardest to turn out of it, but can’t always. Just the way it goes.”
Brielle Clark, Jenna Graves and Brynn Carson are a handful of players that could make up the 2026 core. Bergquist and Pope are hopeful the setback on Wednesday can be used as fuel to avoid another multi-year dry spell of playing into November.
“It starts with how we practice," Bergquist said. “It is our leadership and my responsibility to uphold those standards and expectations. Continuing to build, brick-by-brick.”
