The North Thurston boys soccer team celebrated its eight seniors by defeating River Ridge 2-1 Monday night. Both of the Rams goals were scored by seniors.
While the Rams have tied twice, they have not lost a match in the month of April, going 6-0-2.
Senior Balde Irakoze opened the scoring in the 22nd minute after Rayan Moustafa’s initial breakaway shot was saved. The defender rebounded it and fired from about 18 yards away, lifting it over the goalkeeper for the first goal.
After the halftime break, another senior Leonardo Cortez beat two defenders wide before cutting inside and curling a left-footed shot from 25 yards into the top corner in the 53rd minute.
River Ridge’s Aamir McGeachy netted an impressive counter attack goal in the 64th minute, but the Hawks couldn’t tie the match late in the second half. North Thurston outshot River Ridge 10-4.
“It’s always very fulfilling to win on senior night. We are super proud of our senior group and glad that all eight of them got to start the game together,” North Thurston coach Tristan Glazer said. “I thought our guys battled well and ultimately did enough to win on senior night, which is difficult no matter the circumstance. Our senior group is a really amazing group of young men. Lots of leaders on and off the pitch who have been wonderful mentors to our younger players.”
River Ridge head coach Daniel Arevalo was proud of how his team, nearly three weeks after losing 8-0 to North Thurston, was able to battle for 80 minutes.
“I loved how the team competed and the amount of chances we created, especially in the first half. I challenged the team and asked if we were the same team that lost 8-0 a couple of weeks ago,” Arevalo said. “The boys responded by keeping themselves in the game and fighting.”
North Thurston (9-2-5, 6-1-2 Puget Sound League) currently sits in second place in the Nisqually Division and needs a win over Lakes on the road Thursday and a Capital loss against Peninsula to win the league title.
River Ridge (0-14-1, 0-9-0) will wrap up the season at home against Timberline (7-6-2, 5-3-1) Thursday night for senior night.
