Yellow Pages
SUMNER — Kyle McKnight finished a stellar season in style Saturday.
The La Conner junior scored all three goals Saturday, helping bring home the school’s first ever soccer trophy, a third-place finish at the Class 2B/1B state tournament. The Braves beat Northwest Christian 3-1 in the consolation final.
“It’s amazing. This group of guys has played together for so long,” McKnight said. “To get third place, to beat a team like this one, it’s amazing. We gelled together this year.”
The win caps a turnaround season for the Braves (14-4-2), who won just one game a year earlier.
“There’s no way I would have dreamed this,” senior midfielder Keisuke Massey said, holding the trophy. “We knew we had a lot of good guys, but if someone had told me at the beginning of the season that we were going to get third in the state, I would have said, ‘Get out of here.’”
The win came about 18 hours after a shootout loss to Bear Creek in the semifinals.
“I’m really proud, and I think the best accomplishment was to shake off last night’s loss,” Braves coach Steve DeLeon said.
McKnight scored on a penalty kick in the 68th minute to break a 1-1 tie. The Braves had put together more scoring opportunities than the Crusaders throughout the game, but had been unable to capitalize after the teams exchanged early goals.
Northwest Christian’s goal came first, on a shot from Breanne Taylor, whose shot just trickled over the fingertips of goalie Taylor Fay and into the goal. Taylor, a forward, was the only girl playing in the boys’ tournament.
McKnight tied it a couple minutes later, outracing the Northwest Christian defense and pounding home a short shot from the left side of the goal.
McKnight scored on a penalty kick after a Northwest Christian defender was called for a hand ball in the penalty area.
He blasted his third on a line from about 25 yards out in the 75th minute to give the Braves some breathing room.
DeLeon said he hopes this season will be a catalyst to build a program that can return to the tournament consistently.
“We had a bunch of talent and hard workers,” DeLeon said. “The La Conner youth program had a big part in developing these kids, and we’ve got a bunch of good kids from Conway. The kids coming in have been a big lift.”
• Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or .
