Medical Lake soccer soared

Just how far has the Medical Lake girls’ soccer program risen in three years?

Simple statistics easily illustrate the answer. In 2014 an 0-14 team scored just six times and the 3-13 team head coach Zane Higgins guided in 2015 and hoped to build upon for this season netted 18.

The recently completed season that saw Medical Lake battle for the regular season Northeast A League title until the final two weeks of the campaign, left them with more than triple the number of wins — nine — and goals with 41. Their 8-4 NEA record was good for third place in the final standings.

These accomplishments earned the Cardinals a tie with Cheney volleyball for the nod as the No. 2 local sports story in 2016.

“From 1-11 last year to 8-4, that’s not bad,” Higgins said of his team’s ascension in the league standings. “We kept improving, we kept playing better, they just weren’t getting the results.”

After winning six of seven contests from mid-September to mid-October, the team tailed off a bit down the stretch. But that happened against the two teams, regular-season champ Deer Park and Lakeside that finished above them in the standings.

One element of this 2016 team that is new to Higgins is the significant jump in turnout. “The nice thing this year is we haven’t had a JV (junior varsity) team in three or four years and we’ve got 34 players out this year,” Higgins said.

The uniforms have been stored away for the season and 2017 is a seemingly far off 10 months away, but Higgins said the momentum and skill improvement ought to carry through.

And that future would appear bright. “We’re still a fairly young team,” Higgins said. Among the returners are leading scorer, Makayla Geiger and Jayda Noble, just a freshman, who kept improving all year.

“She should provide some good balance with Makayla next year,” Higgins said of Noble. Geiger set a new school record with 21 goals and led the NEA in scoring, too.

Geiger and Jaxyn Farmen earned all-Northeast A League honors along with keeper Taylor Cannon. In addition, the Cardinals’ Zane Higgins was voted coach of the year for girls’ soccer after helping guide his team to a playoff berth.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].