2A Prep Girls Soccer: R.A. Long blanks Mark Morris in elimination game

Civil War (Round III) — Senior Lumberjills stay perfect against Monarchs in District do-or-die affair

R.A. Long’s Addison Hartley works to keep an edge on Mark Morris defender Mia Peters during a District IV playoff game at Longview Memorial Stadium, Wednesday, Nov. 6. Hartley scored two goals in a 6-0 win over the Monarchs. — Patrick Durgeloh / Durgeloh Photography

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

A visitor along the far sideline at Longview Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night may have come away with the wrong idea if they allowed first impressions to be their guide. With Round III of the season’s girls soccer Civil War all gussied up as a loser-out rivalry affair in the 2A District IV Tournament, there was some confusing energy in the air.

The underdog Mark Morris Monarchs were up for the game from the start. Their bench was loud and stayed on its feet as first-year head coach Shilah Nickerson patrolled the sideline with her baby strapped to her torso in a travel pack, as per usual.

Meanwhile, the R.A. Long Lumberjills were eerily silent. Their bench players sat with perfect posture in their plastic seats beneath a bus-stop style enclosure to protect them from the elements. Meanwhile, head coach Taylor Wallace stalked the edge of the pitch looking pensive as his Jills carried on with all the exuberance of an exterminator on the cusp of retiring.

That is to say, there was work to be done and plenty of it. Nobody wants to hear about the first mouse the exterminator catches. A true craftsman of the elimination arts knows they are to be seen and not heard until the final vermin has been vanquished.

And so the Lumberjills went about executing their plan with an assassin’s precision and didn’t stop until they’d eliminated the Monarchs with a 6-0 decision. The victory left R.A. Long just one win away from a state playoff berth.

According to R.A. Long senior captain Alice Anderson, the Jills spent plenty of time preparing mentally for their final matchup with the Monarchs.

“Going into the game we had beaten them twice in league, but we knew they would put up a fight. They put up a fight in league matches and this was even bigger,” Anderson said. “It started on Saturday after we lost in the opening round. The captains texted the group chat and told them they needed to get ready… We definitely took it really seriously which is why we started out so strong.”

That stoic approach that would have made a lone wolf blush didn’t net positive results right away. That’s because the Monarchs were reinforced with a burgeoning confidence that provided some extra bounce in the early going.

Mark Morris entered the game coming off a 3-0 loss to No. 1 ranked Columbia River that turned the heads of many observers. As a result, the girls from the north side of Lake Sacajawea believed they had a real shot at finally sinking their most familiar foes.

Those contrasting styles resulted in a stalemate over the first 22 minutes of play as the teams traded sharp elbows and battering ram hip-checks every time there was a battle for a loose ball. The Monarchs, fresh off their impressive defensive effort against the Rapids, chose to pick their poison against R.A. Long. Specifically, they locked their defense in on Anderson and forced the Jills to find a new path forward by neutralizing their most dangerous offensive piece.

“You saw them double, triple teaming Alice, and we kind of assumed that was going to be the way it was, and sure enough she was mobbed,” R.A. Long coach Taylor Wallace said.

But the other Lumberjills were ready to fill the empty spaces in between the mob, constantly pushing forward and forcing the Monarchs to back pedal against the pressure. That approach paid off when Lauren Nikolajsen put up a point blank shot that was blocked by Mark Morris goalkeeper Emersyn Thompson before being knocked back across the goal line by a defender in the ensuing chaos.

R.A. Long’s Laura Nikolajsen puts up shot on goal while Mark. Morris defender Kennedy Fitzsimmons works to cut her off during a District playoff game, Wednesday, Nov. 6, at Longview Memorial Stadium. Nikolajsen scored one goal in a 6-0 win. — Patrick Durgeloh / Durgeloh Photography

It wasn’t a pretty score, but it broke the seal on what had been a lock-tight defensive effort up until that point. And moreover, it was a harbinger for what was to come.

“I think the first goal, we gave that up as an own goal and everything, and that was a gut punch,” Nickerson said. “That wasn’t what they were expecting and they struggled to come back from that.”