Blackhawks goal is to keep playing, and not go home

The Cheney boys soccer team missed winning their fourth consecutive Great Northern League soccer title by one game and two points - and in a way, head coach Mark Kiver is OK with that fact.

In the league's five-team alignment, the regular season winner has an automatic berth in the District 7 title game while the other four teams slog it out through a pair of loser-out rounds. That means league champion Pullman has to wait until May 12 to take the pitch again as hosts for the title game that will determine seeding into the glue-regional round with the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

Meanwhile, No. 2-seed Cheney faces last place Clarkston (1-13, 0-11) today (May 7) at home, with a shot at playing the winner of the East Valley-West Valley game this Saturday. Kiver is happy with that since he thinks this year's Blackhawks are better when they're playing on a regular basis – especially now that they may be playing their best soccer of the season.

Cheney wrapped up its regular season with a pair of shutout wins, beating Clarkston 5-0 on Senior Day, April 28, and following that by blanking fourth-place West Valley 2-0 April 30.

Oliver Smith had a pair of goals and two assists against the Bantams, putting the Blackhawks on the board in the 10th minute and finishing the scoring with a goal in the 77th. Cruz Galm and William Bassedas also scored, and Cheney collected an own goal in the 25th minute.

Cheney out shot Clarkston 10-1, with goalkeeper Kameron Galm collecting the only save.

Thursday the Blackhawks wasted no time putting the Eagles in a hole, scoring on a penalty kick by Cruz Galm in the 13th minute and making it 2-0 just before the half on Smith's third goal of the week, assisted by Noah Prophet. Neither team scored in a second half that was notable for the number of penalty cards, as things got a little more physical and vocal between the two schools.

Kiver said they talked about this at half time, reminding the team to focus on their game and not the comments of players and fans, something he made sure of by regularly substituting players to keep them out of hot-button situations. Despite this, Kiver felt it was Cheney's most complete game of the season.

"We could've won it 1-0 and I would've still thought the same thing," he added.

Kiver believes the Blackhawks are finally getting to the point of not only playing their best soccer, but also leaving room for even more improvement. Cheney (9-3, 10-5-1) won three of four games in the third round of league play, all shutouts, with the lone loss a 1-0 defeat at Pullman.

Still, the Blackhawks aren't overlooking a Clarkston team that, despite having just one win, has an unorthodox playing style that could help it manufacture an upset in the lose-and-go-home game. Kiver said he and his coaches have done all they can, and it's really in the hands of the players.

"It's really about them and what they want to get done," he said. "Now, we need to step it up because we don't want to go home."

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].