Things are coming together for the Todd Beamer soccer team. The Titans have won 14-straight games and haven’t lost since the quarterfinals of last year’s state tournament.
The ultra-talented Titans earned another berth into the Class 4A State Boys Soccer Tournament with a 3-0 thrashing of the Rogers Rams Saturday at the West Central District Tournament. The win over the Rams was the third of the season for Beamer.
The Titans’ all-everything striker Ugo Okoli entered the game in the 16th minute after sitting out the beginning of the match for disciplinary reasons, tallied all three goals for the Titans.
Okoli, who plays on the United States’ under-18 Men’s National Team and has already signed with Wake Forest University, has 24 goals on the season to go along with his 14 assists. The hat trick Saturday was Okoli’s fourth of the year.
The Titans’ defense was also rock solid, as usual. Beamer’s back line, led by Oregon State-signee Brandon Brockway and goalkeeper Nick Bod, posted their 11th shutout of the season.
The win earned the Titans a home game to open the Class 4A State Boys Soccer Tournament. Beamer will take on the Tahoma Bears at 7 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, May 17. Tahoma (10-6-2) finished third in the SPSL North behind Kentwood and Jefferson.
The Titans enter the state tournament as the team to beat in the 4A classification. Beamer took over the No. 1-ranking in the Seattle Times after the victory over previously-unbeaten Kentwood in the South Puget Sound League title game last week.
Jefferson 2, Skyview 0
The winningest boys soccer program in state history moved on to another state tournament with the win over Skyview Saturday in the West Central/Southwest District Tournament.
The Raiders (14-2-2) will take on Mariner, the District 1 champions, Tuesday, May 17, at 7 p.m. at Goddard Stadium in Mukilteo in the opening round of the 16-team Class 4A State Tournament.
Jefferson, who has won seven state titles, got a goal by Omar Abdi just before the halftime horn sounded at Art Crate Stadium in Graham. Obdi gave the Raiders the 1-0 lead in the 38th minute after Casey Kim’s shot was deflected.
Jimmy Oganga added an insurance goal with a little less than 10 minutes to play, finding the open net from 30 yards out after drawing the keeper out. McKay Owsley recorded the shutout.
Jefferson’s only two losses of the season came to the defending state-champion Kentwood Conquerors.
Decatur 2, Mountain View 1
The Gators (13-2-0) qualified for their first-ever Class 3A State Boys Soccer Tournament with the win over Mountainview Saturday at Auburn Memorial Stadium.
Decatur converted a penalty kick with about 20 minutes to play and that proved to be the difference. Both teams scored within the first five minutes of the match. Decatur scored first and then Mountain View followed about 30 seconds after. The goal scorers for Decatur were not reported.
The Gators will take on the Bainbridge Spartans (14-3-1) Tuesday, May 17, at Bainbridge Stadium at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the 3A state tournament.
Kentwood 2, Federal Way 0
The Eagles (8-7-3) had their season end Saturday by the defending state champs at Art Crate Stadium. The Kentwood win came three days after Beamer handed the Conks their first loss of the season in the SPSL title game.
Stefan Bangsund gave the Conquerors all they would need with a goal in the 35th minute on an assist from Eli Peterson. Cody Crook delivered an insurance goal by finding the back of the net in the 35th minute.
“Beamer is aggressive, talented and puts pressure on you,” said Kentwood coach Aaron Radford. “They just push the speed of play. Throw-ins are quick, dead balls are quick … it can wear you down. We had a couple respectable shots, but they were from far range.”
Against Federal Way, the Conquerors received better looks on goal.
Bangsund’s tally was his team-leading 11th of the season while Crook collected his fourth goal of the year.
