Just a small sprinkle of luck and breaks ended a six-game drought for the Falcon boys soccer team Friday, as they won their first game in three weeks to stay in the playoff hunt.
Hosting Mount Baker, a team they routed 4-1 on April 6, the Falcons picked their way to a slim, 3-2 victory on Waterman Field. But it took extraordinary measures from one quiet senior player to get the job done.
In a 1-1 tie with the Mountaineers near the midpoint of the first half, the Falcons picked up a crucial goal from an unexpected corner. After scoring his first-ever high school goal in a junior varsity game earlier in the afternoon, Phil Schorr, a fourth-year JV player with the team, went in for an uneven showdown at the goal line to give his team momentum and a score it sorely needed. Assisted by sophomore Kypher Koska on a crossing pass, the 115-pound senior blew through several much-larger defenders to put the airborne ball in the net.
“It was a pretty brutal goal to get,” said Falcon varsity coach Mark Helpenstell.
South Whidbey’s lead didn’t last long — the Mountaineers scored about five minutes later — but Schorr’s goal kept the Falcons in the game.
The winning score would not come until the second half, when junior Josh Helpenstell converted a Kyle Kramer kick at the net. Prior to that, the Falcons’ passing game struggled, as shot after shot bounced aimlessly at midfield, or was intercepted by the Mount Baker defense.
In goal for the game was sophomore Alex McGlenn, who stood in for absent starter Devin Thompson
The victory takes the Falcons to a record of 5-9 and into a statistical tie with Blaine and Lynden Christian for fifth place in the North Cascades Conference. A top-five placing would put the Falcons in district playoffs.
The team played Nooksack Tuesday night, and closes out the season against fourth-place Meridian Thursday at Waterman Field.