CHENEY – A senior-dominant Lady Blackhawks soccer team used that experience to hold off a talented West Valley squad 3-1 last Thursday — thus earning Cheney girls soccer its first Great Northern League regular-season title in 10 years.
Makenna Benson provided Cheney the offense it needed. The junior forward dribbled her way inside the penalty area just left of the goalie box to right foot a shot into the net past West Valley goalkeeper Madison Maloney for a goal in the 30th minute.
Benson made it 2-0 off an assist by Kaitlin Teeters just before the half. West Valley’s Emma Price brought the Eagles within a goal off a corner kick early in the second half at the 48-minute mark, but the Lady Blackhawks were quick to answer
In the 56th minute, Benson again dribbled down the right side of the goal, crossing over to her left in front of defender Tori Strum and left-footing a shot into goal to restore Cheney’s two-goal margin. From there, Cheney’s senior-oriented backline of middle backs Megan Little and Abi Kasparek and outside backs Katarina Smith and Lexi VanHorne kept the Eagles offense at bay, providing protection for goalkeeper Sydney Reagan.
Cheney out shot West Valley 12-6 with Reagan making five saves and Maloney nine.
“We’ve been playing like this all year,” head coach Nels Radtke said of his team, adding that for about 10 minutes early in the second half, the Eagles pressure and intensity was beginning to rattle the Lady Blackhawks. Despite warnings and one yellow card, that didn’t last long, and it didn’t require Radtke to make any unnecessary substitutes.
“They figured it out,” Radtke said. “They were under the gun and they figure it out.”
On Tuesday, Cheney set up the showdown with West Valley with a 2-1 win on the road at Clarkston. Again, it was Benson with the offense, providing the equalizer in the 57th minute after the Bantams took a 1-0 lead in the first half, and the game winner in the 65th minute off an assist by Kailey Estrellado.
Cheney wraps up the regular season with an 11-1 record in league, 13-3 overall. The title is the Lady Blackhawks first since 2009 — the last time the program made an appearance in the 2A state tournament Final Four.
Radtke and crew now await the results of the upcoming playoffs, and will host the District 7 title game this Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. to decide the No. 1 and 2 seeds to the state tournament. If Cheney wins, they will host the No. 4 team from the Central Washington Athletic Conference — likely Quincy — while if they lose they will be on the road against the CWAC No. 3.
Radtke likes the way his team has been playing all season, especially the defense. Cheney has out score its opponents 46 – 15, allowing just 12 goals in league and recording five shutouts overall.
Radtke hopes to have goalkeeper Sydney McCarthy back from a concussion for Tuesday’s district title game, but noted that sophomore goalkeeper Sydney Reagan has been playing well too.
“With our back line though, I don’t care who our goal is,” he added.
The time off is a first for Radtke and the Lady Blackhawks, and they’re using it to get in some much needed fitness and game-situation work. They’re also hoping for a little fun such as the boys program used to do during their championship runs under former head coaches Steve Davis and Mark Kiver.
“We haven’t be able to do that,” Radtke said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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