Trout Lake one win away from soccer playoffs

“I’m just proud of the Mustangs that we’re actually in the mix, period,” Coach Sean Painter said. “We’ve won more games than we did last year and we’re just getting started. It’s only our second year — I’ve got to think about that (too).”

This year, the top four teams in Special District 1 — which includes many of Oregon’s largest 3A schools — qualify for the playoffs. A fifth District 1 team likely will qualify for a statewide at-large berth, as well. The district is arguably the toughest in the state for its enrollment level, meaning the at-large berth more often than not goes to one of its teams.

Corbett is ranked 11th, Trout Lake 15th and Banks 16th. Two of those teams should make the playoffs, with the guaranteed spot going to Tuesday’s Trout Lake-Corbett winner. That’s the focus of Mustang Coach Painter. “Like I told ‘em, ‘girls we’re just going for the win.”

Trout Lake (9-4-1 overall, 4-4-1 Special District 1) finished the regular season last week with a, 4-0, win Oct. 18 at Stevenson. Coach Painter’s team broke to an early 3-0 lead, and he used the rest of the match to shuffle players in and out of the lineup. “I told them to press hard and then we’ll sub and get the players who don’t get to play a lot in,” Painter said of the game plan.

Corbett and Trout Lake played a league match Oct. 13 at Corbett, where the Mustangs made an early goal by junior Zandra Bakken stand up for the 1-0 win. “It was the first 10 minutes and then we played defense for 70 minutes. That was a fun game. … I’m going to tell you they are tough,” Painter said of the Cardinals. “It’ll be a good battle again and hopefully we can play lights out defense like we did the first game.”

In that regard, it helps to have sophomore Violette Anderson in goal.  “If she’s on her A game, she’s definitely the No. 1 keeper in the league,” Painter said.

“If we can press right off the get-go and get a goal then I think we are good,” Painter said. “I think it’s going to be an excellent game. Offensively they’re very strong from the mid up and we’re very strong defensively. It will be to see which one gets broken down.”

The win over Corbett snapped a four-match winless streak for Trout Lake. The Mustangs led Riverdale at halftime, but the visitors capitalized on a couple of mistakes en route to a 4-1 victory. Painter said the focus after that match — Trout Lake’s third loss in a row — was to continue to improve, which the Mustangs did, earning two wins and a tie to end the regular season.

“Now, we have a chance to get on to state in our second year,” Painter said. “We’ll see if (we) have enough grit to pull it off.”