The Timberline boys soccer team outlasted Capital in a penalty kick shootout 3-2 (5-4 PKs) Thursday to advance to a winner-to-state game and end the Cougars’ season.
The Blazers, who also defeated Capital 2-1 on April 28, roared back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game and send it into extra time. Landin Vargas scored the lone goal of the first half in the 35th minute to give Capital the early edge, and Jaden Annan found the back of the net in the 50th minute.
In the final 20 minutes, with their season on the line, the Blazers put the Cougars on their heels with a 61st-minute goal by Arilson Lima Filho and a game-tying goal by Marek Carlson in the 76th minute off a half volley near the post.
“We had the run of play for large stretches of the game and had chances to go up three and put it away,” Capital head coach Jeremy Richtmyre said. “Unfortunately, we just had a few mental lapses in the final 20 minutes, and we let them claw back in.”
The Puget Sound League rivals went to a penalty shootout to determine who stays alive in districts. Timberline connected on all five of its penalty kicks, while Capital netted four of five, with Blazers goalkeeper Parker Spengler stopping Quinton Fisher’s attempt for the difference in the game. Liam Derickson hit the final PK to end the game.
“I have to hand it to the boys’ determination and effort when going down by two goals. I was very blunt with the guys at halftime by saying that we were outplayed physically and mentally in the first half,” Timberline head coach Mark Towers said. “In the second half, we did a little better, but our fight and determination kept us in the game. I’m excited for the guys, the seniors especially, to get another game and the chance to qualify for the state tournament.”
Capital finishes its resurgent season with a 13-5-2 record in 2026. The Cougars won just five games in 2025, seven in 2024 and two in 2023. In the program’s fourth season under Richtmyre, Capital won the Puget Sound League Nisqually Division and advanced to the league title match.
“We, as a program, took a big step forward this year. The seniors that are graduating saw this program when it was at its worst,” Richtmyre said. “They’ve helped it rise to the program that it is today. Hats off to them for that.”
Timberline (10-7-2) is now one win away from its first trip to the state tournament since 1991. The Blazers will take on heated rival North Thurston (11-3-5) Saturday afternoon at Mount Tahoma High School in a winner-to-state, loser-out contest.
