PAGE2A14,2KEIZERTIMES,2OCTOBER228,22016
Lady Celts play
fi nal home game
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Kayla Evans was fi ght-
ing back tears before her last
home soccer game at McNary.
But afterwards she couldn’t
stop smiling as the Lady Celt-
ics earned themselves a state
play-in game with a 1-1
tie against South Salem on
Thursday, Oct. 20.
“I’ve played with some of
these girls since I was six and
it’s just an emotional thing
thinking after 12 years play-
ing with them that this is our
last home game,” Evans said.
“It just blows my mind. This
day was just really important
for me. We had a lot at stake.
I think we performed well for
how much pressure was on
us.”
The Lady Saxons scored
their goal in the fi rst minute
of the game.
“Senior night is a vulner-
able night,” McNary head
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coach AJ Nash said. “You’ve
got a lot of emotions going
into it and we kind of let our
guard down. We goofed up in
the beginning.”
“In the fi rst few seconds
when they scored my heart
broke a little bit,” senior
Abigail Smith said. “I just re-
membered that we had lots of
time to come back.”
The Lady Celts shifted
their formation to a 4-5-1 to
put an additional player in the
midfi eld.
Their best chances to score
came off set pieces. A corner
kick in the 29 th minute hit the
post.
McNary lost Natalie Gon-
zalez late in the fi rst half. The
sophomore midfi elder had to
be carted off the fi eld with an
injury and didn’t return.
Evans limped off the fi eld
six minutes into the second
half but re-entered eight min-
utes later.
Sophomore Anita Lao
tried to head in a corner kick
from sophomore Gina Mun-
guia in the 58 th minute but
couldn’t get a direct strike on
the ball.
But the Lady Celts got
KEIZERTIMES/Derek2Wiley
McNary2seniors2Morgan2Sigurdson,2back,2left,2Katelyn2Tallon,2Gabby2Schmit,2Tania2Calderon,2Isabella2Heath,2Kayla2Evans,2Scarlett2
Working,2Kolbie2Kopp,2front,2left,2Jenna2Candland,2Abi2Rodriguez2and2Abigail2Smith2were2honored2on2Thursday,2Oct.220.2
the equalizer it needed with
13:35 remaining when Mun-
guia crossed the ball to soph-
omore Abigail Hawley, who
one-touched it to the far post,
past the goalkeeper and into
the net.
“It was so crazy,” Haw-
ley said of the tying goal. “I
love celebrating with all of
my teammates afterwards. It’s
such a great feeling. I was re-
ally playing for the seniors. I
wanted them to have a good
last game.”
The celebration included a
big hug from Evans.
“I didn’t even say anything,
I was just screaming,” Evans
said. “I was so happy. Just hav-
ing a shot like that in so much
traffi c and for her to get it far
post on the ground clean past
the keeper was amazing. I was
so ecstatic.”
Before the game, McNary
honored its 11 seniors, who
were sophomores when Nash
became head coach in 2014.
“They’ve carried us where
we are,” Nash said. “They
bought in. I would commend
tonight’s result and the results
in big games on the backs of
the seniors. There’s only so
much coaches can do. Results
in big games are due to the
leadership on the fi eld and
the seniors were our leader-
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ship on the fi eld this year.”
Smith was just happy to
play another day.
“I was so scared that this
was going to be our last game
together and I’m just so ex-
cited to be able to play with
these girls again and for as
long as I can,” she said. “I’m
just so pumped. The whole
season I just really wanted to
get to this point. Everything
is so surreal right now. Senior
year comes so fast and I don’t
want it to end.”
The play-in game was the
Lady Celts fi rst since 2013.
“I’m proud of the way
they’ve fought,” Nash said.
“This is the best game they’ve
played all season, not the best
fi nishing, but certainly the
best all around focus, intensity,
effort and if we carry this mo-
mentum into the postseason,
we should be able to earn that
fi rst playoff game.
“Hopefully, it’s the begin-
ning of something special.We
had a strong underclassmen
contingent on the fi eld all
night tonight. I’m not looking
forward to next year yet but if
we can compete at this level
and we can learn to feel what
it’s like to win, that’s step one.”