For 50 minutes on Tuesday, the Tenino girls soccer team was down to 10 players against Montesano.
Some early physical play led to a second yellow card in the 30th minute, which left the Beavers down a player, clinging to a one-goal lead.
Tenino was able to score again despite being shorthanded, and the Beavers held on to knock off the defending league champions 2-1.
“To be the best, you have to beat the best,” Tenino coach Trevor Fetbrandt said. “They’ve dominated the league, we were pretty fired up to get our shot at them … We found a way to grit out a result against those guys.”
Callie Mickelson opened the scoring in the 14th minute off an assist from Kyla Watson, and Watson doubled the advantage in the 51st minute on an unassisted goal.
The Bulldogs responded to Watson’s goal immediately, scoring just one minute later, but the Beavers were able to hold off the Montesano attack for the final 28-plus minutes and prevent an equalizer.
After the game, Fetbrandt was beaming when talking about the way his group stuck it out.
“We show up to practice, and we talk about different formations with 11,” Fetbrandt said. “There aren’t a lot of times where you practice with a player down. We did something today where we needed to trust our instincts as soccer players and trust our gameplan.
“The girls answered that and so much more,” he continued. “We played a great team tonight, and we played them 1-1 for 50 minutes. It's a huge win for our program and for the town of Tenino.”
Fetbrandt also gave kudos to the Bulldogs, saying they played hard, and he noted that Montesano’s intensity throughout the match was “a testament to our team for coming together as a collective and performing.”
The Beavers (10-1-1, 4-0 1A Evergreen) finish the first half of the league slate unscathed, and they’ll begin the second half of their league schedule on Thursday in Rochester.
