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La Conner High has Crosspoint Academy in its crosshairs yet again.
The Lady Braves face Crosspoint for the third time in a month — and second during post-season — in a State 2B soccer semifinal playoff match in Sumner on Friday.
The Nov. 20 pairing, 4 p.m. at Sunset Chev Stadium, was set when both teams won their quarterfinal matches last weekend.
La Conner edged Ocosta 2-1, while Crosspoint defeated Liberty Bell 4-2.
La Conner, after struggling against Crosspoint in recent years, has beaten the Lady Warriors in the two prior matches this season.
The Lady Braves enter the State Final Four riding a program-best, 13-game winning streak and have yet to lose to a 1B or 2B foe.
La Conner improved to 17-2 overall with the win over Ocosta, a hard-fought triumph earned in cold, wet conditions in Mount Vernon.
To say the loser-out match was a test for La Conner is putting it mildly.
“They scored early off a corner kick and had us down by one (goal) for most of the game,” notes La Conner head coach Amy Freeto. “We scored in the very final seconds.”
Kyla Crawford caromed a shot off the Ocosta keeper, which Emma Lee volleyed into the net to send the match into overtime.
The two clubs squared off for two sudden death extra sessions, and at one point it appeared as if Ocosta had won.
“They had a goal called back,” Freeto explains. “The ball had gone out of bounds before they passed it in. Ocosta started celebrating, and we thought we had lost. It was pretty dramatic.”
The Lady Braves made the most of their new lease on life.
Lee faked a shot, sent a pass across the box to Aubre Cunningham, who calmly placed the ball past the Ocosta keeper and defenders.
This time it was La Conner’s turn to celebrate — and the score stood.
“Our entire bench cleared,” says Freeto. “There was lots of joy.”
La Conner fans are hoping for more of the same this weekend.
The winner of the La Conner-Crosspoint semifinal advances to the State championship round on Saturday.
Adna and Okanogan face off in Friday’s 2 p.m. semifinal match.
Freeto said on Monday that the Lady Braves are poised to do well in Sumner.
“We are so happy with the girls,” she says, “with how they’ve played all season and with the growth they’ve shown. We’re peaking right when we needed to. It’s been perfect.”
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