The Interlake Saints attained the absolute pinnacle of high school soccer with a 1-0 victory against Garfield Bulldogs in the Class 3A state championship game May 30 at Sparks Stadium in downtown Puyallup.
Interlake sophomore Stirling Russell scored the lone goal of the game in the 40th minute, just seconds before halftime giving his team a 1-0 lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the contest. Russell utilized his blazing speed, sprinting down the right side of the field before uncorking a shot on goal which found the back of the net. Russell said the score came on a counter-attack play.
“I got to go right at the guy and when I got to him I tried to cut left to right and when I got there I just weaved a little bit but I got the finish,” he said. “That was that. It was a great goal for our team.”
Interlake head coach Dan Peterson said Russell’s goal was a testament to the preparation of his team on the practice field.
“We are a really athletic team and we’ve worked all season about getting the ball to our players in space,” Peterson said. “Sterling is the quickest kid I have seen play this year. He just goes by people. He got a step on (the Garfield defender) and made a great finish.”
Garfield put together a multitude of shot attempts in the final 60 minutes of play but couldn’t record a goal. Interlake defenders Arden Chew, Gabriel Simental and Daniel Pratt intensely pressured Garfield’s offense throughout the game, contesting the vast majority of shot attempts with relentless defensive savvy and physicality.
“You don’t win state championships without two good center backs and having Arden and Gabriel back there as two seniors that have been with the team for three years was huge,” Peterson said. “They both played midfield before in their careers but they both willingly stepped back into the role of playing defender and said if it was going to help us win then we’ll go play defense. Gabriel and Arden were terrific leaders for our team. They are just impossible to replace.”
Pratt said the final 10 minutes of regulation felt like an eternity.
“That was probably the hardest 10 minutes of soccer that I have experienced. I’m still out of breath,” Pratt said five minutes after the final whistle. “We had such a great team this year. Regardless of the success of failures, we’ve always got each others back and that’s great.”
Interlake senior team captain Jose Castillo, who was the vocal leader of the Saints throughout the 2015 season, will always remember the journey en route to the ultimate prize.
“It is amazing — from the start, no one believed in us. Since the beginning of the season we’ve fought through adversity. We’ve fought, dug down deep and won lots of games,” Castillo said. “We executed today and we won state.”
Peterson, who has coached the Saints for the past 16 seasons, was glad to see this year’s senior class achieve their No. 1 goal on the soccer field.
“This group of seniors have been really good since they came into the program,” Peterson said. “They have always been very honest about what they wanted to do. Winning a state title was a stated goal of theirs and they’ve been working for this for the past three years.”
The longtime head coach of the Saints credited the Interlake High School community for its support of the soccer program. A sizable amount of fans made the 34-mile trek from Interlake High School to downtown Puyallup for the championship game.
“It was loud the whole match,” Peterson said. “The kids were really excited about that we had great support all year. The whole school was really behind us.”
Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com
