The Tenino girls soccer team couldn’t complete a perfect league season, as the Beavers lost to Montesano 3-1 on the road in their final game of the regular season.
With the league title already secured, Tenino coach Trevor Fetbrandt said that they were able to rotate deeper into their bench, but he also took the responsibility for the result.
“Tonight’s loss is on me,” Fetbrandt said. “I don't think I had them ready to go and fired up enough to perform at the highest level … The girls played hard, we just weren’t sharp enough to execute the things we wanted to.”
Montesano scored the first three goals of the game, but the Beavers were able to prevent the shutout when Sophie Espino scored in the 77th minute.
Tenino had a chance at the penalty spot earlier in the game, but couldn’t convert, and the Beavers also had a “comical” penalty called against them.
Fetbrandt added that Montesano played more physically than he expected, as the Bulldogs committed 14 fouls to Tenino’s seven, but he said he was proud of the girls for not backing down from that challenge.
Despite the loss, the Beavers are still the No. 1 seed from the Evergreen League entering the district tournament, and they are set to host La Center, the Trico’s No. 4 seed, next Thursday, Oct. 29 in the district quarterfinals.
A win would put Tenino (13-2-2, 7-1 1A Evergreen) into a district semifinal, which would give them up to two chances to earn a state tournament spot.
“We feel pretty good that we’re in a good spot going forward,” Fetbrandt said. “A week of rest does a lot of good for us. We should be rested up, dialed up, and ready to go. We look forward to La Center.”
