MOUNT VERNON — The Burlington-Edison girls’ soccer team will face a familiar foe in its quest to make a repeat appearance in the state title game.
Bailey Gates and Carolyn Ranten each scored and the Tigers beat Mark Morris 3-0 Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Class 2A state tournament Saturday.
The Tigers will face defending state champion Fife at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner. Burlington-Edison lost to Fife in the title game last season 2-1; two years ago, the Tigers beat them in a shootout in the postseason.
Fife beat Hockinson 1-0 Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
Against Mark Morris, the Tigers got on the scoreboard with a Mark Morris own goal in the 10th minute following a Burlington-Edison corner kick.
They added a pair of goals in the second half.
For the first, Gates took a pass from Ranten, made a run down the sideline, then cut to the left to lose her defender before left-footing the ball into goal.
“It was a great pass by Carolyn and a great shot,” Burlington-Edison coach Jay Powers said.
The Tigers increased the lead in the 76th minute when Kristine Thoe crossed the ball to Ranten for the squad’s third goal.
“Carolyn is one of our most composed players, and she stayed calm and got it done,” Powers said.
The Tigers outshot Mark Morris 14-2 in the game, but Powers said they had a tough time cracking the Monarch’s defense.
“They were a good defensive team. We got an own goal and had a lot of possession, but they defended well,” he said.
“We passed well and did a great job communicating,” Gates said.
The Tigers (17-3) lost some offensive punch off last year’s state-title team, but the players say they have been turning in plenty of hard work to stamp their own identity on this year’s squad.
“It’s been hard because we’re a young team going against older girls, but we’ve been working our butts off,” said Ranten, one of the three seniors on the team.
“We lost so many seniors — but we’ve been working hard to make up for the loss,” Gates said.
Niki Stilwill was in goal for Burlington-Edison in the victory over Mark Morris.
• Trevor Pyle can be reached at 360-416-2156 or by e-mail at
