Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Gorillas top Okanogan, UCA, SGS
Davenport senior Jensyn Jacobsen puts the ball in play off a corner kick in the first half of the Gorillas' 3-1 victory over St. George's Thursday, Oct. 12.
DAVENPORT - A seven-game winning streak preceded by a five-game winning streak to start the season has vaulted the Gorilla soccer team into the second-ranked B team in the state, according to the WIAA RPI rankings.
In the last week, Davenport defeated St. George's 3-1 Thursday, Oct. 12, Okanogan 1-0 Saturday, Oct. 14 and Upper Columbia Academy 7-0 Monday, Oct. 16.
The lone home game was against the Dragons, whom Davenport had previously defeated in a road shootout Sept. 21.
On a sunny Thursday afternoon, both teams struggled to find the back of the net for the first 56 minutes of action.
The Gorillas and Dragons each had several attack chances in the first half, but other than an early Glenna Soliday shot that hit the top post, none were very close to netting.
Davenport started to turn on the burners offensively out of halftime, but it didn't result in a goal for 16 more minutes. That changed with a small stroke of luck for the Gorillas, when Jensyn Jacobsen's deep shot glanced off St. George's goalkeeper Henri Osborne's hands and slowly rolled into the net.
"That was excitement, especially for me because it felt slow, but it was a good little push for us to say, 'hey, we got one in,'" Jacobsen said. "Let's keep stacking another, and another, and let's try to drown them out."
The goal lit a fire into the Gorillas, who got two more goals in the next four minutes from Glenna Soliday to build a 3-0 lead with 20 minutes remaining.
"We've talked about being aggressive...we had five, six, seven, eight consecutive good halves," Davenport head coach Monty Soliday said. "Then we kind of had a poor first half...if we're a state contender, we have to play like it every half."
St. George's got a goal with just over two minutes on the clock, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Gorillas from another convincing victory. It was the first goal Davenport had allowed in four games.
"Our defense has been good," Soliday said. "They've done a good job to make tough shots on goals and our goalies have knocked down the ones that got through."
One game remains on the schedule before the postseason, and it's a doozy. Undefeated Northwest Christian visits Davenport at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24.
The Crusaders, at 12-0-1, are the only team to defeat the 12-1 Gorillas this season. The game could wind up deciding the regular season league champion and top seed in the league playoffs.
Drew Lawson is the former managing editor of the Davenport Times and a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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