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Sports

Boys Soccer: Shorewood's Season Ends with Shocking Loss to Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon scores twice in the final seven minutes to steal final state playoff spot from T-Birds.

With seven minutes left in its winner-to-state/loser-out game against Mount Vernon, the Shorewood boys soccer team was looking like it would make good on head coach Nathan Davis' pre-season prediction that the Thunderbirds would make the state tournament.

Seven minutes later, their season was over.

Mount Vernon scored twice in the final 6:30 of the game to stun Shorewood with a 3-2 victory in the third/fourth game of the Northwest 3A Dsitrict Tournament on Thursday night at Edmonds Stadium in Edmonds.

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Shorewood led 2-1 entering the 74th minute of the game, but its lead quickly disappeared in the form of a Nate Barber goal. Barber struck a lowdrive from just outside the 18-yard box that beat Shorewood goalkeeper Simon Aspinall before bouncing off the far post and in.

"We talked all game about [Barber]," Shorewood head coach Nathan Davis said. "Left-footed, comes across the midfield and shoots and shoots from far. That's what all of our scouting said and we didn't follow through."

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Mount Vernon took the lead for good three minutes later. Alex Bell took a corner from the right side and Jaime Orozco finished off a loose ball from eight yards out to give the Bulldogs the stunning come from behind victory.

"We're one of the top scoring teams in the state, so the goals were going to come," Mount Vernon head coach Tony Dabbs said. "It's very rare that you hold us scoreless, so we just kept plucking away...the team theme seems to be just believe."

The loss was the second in a week for Shorewood in which it held a lead. On Tuesday against Glacier Peak, the T-Birds took an early 1-0 lead before a late goal by the Grizzlies broke a 1-1 tie. This one had to hurt more.

"The two teams playing tonight after us [Glacier Peak and Shorecrest] are teams that have composure at the end of the games," Davis said. "That's something this team doesn't have. We don't have the experience playing in this arena."

Shorewood looked to be headed to an easy victory through the first 30 minutes of the game. The T-Birds put five shots on goal during a 22 minute span early in the first half that resulted in two goals to give Shorewood a 2-0 lead.

The first came on a Tanner Jones breakaway in the 19th minute. Jones shed his defender at the top of the 18-yard box and beat Bulldogs goalkeeper Tyler Visten for the games first score.

Sahil Khan got in on the action 10 minutes later, finishing a beautiful cross from Eugene Holley on the left post to put the T-Birds up 2-0 in the 29th minute.

Shorewood had multiple other opportunities to add to its lead, including a header by Khan in the 41st minute that Visten tipped just wide of the post and another strike from Khan in the 48th minute that Visten made a save on, but could not finish another chance.

Mount Vernon got its first goal in the 33rd minute when Barber laid off a pass to Cristian Caro, who finished the shot from 12 yards out.

Shorewood controlled the tempo for much of the second half, largely keeping Mount Vernon on its heels, before the disastrous finish.

The loss ends what had been a resurgent season for Shorewood, which won just seven games a year ago. The T-Birds finished the season with a 12-7 record, with all seven of those losses coming to state-bound teams.

"I'm just really proud of all the seniors," Davis said. "I think they've helped us change this program and get it going in the direction that it needs to be going and I look forward to next year."

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