With six straight wins on their early-season resumé, including five shutouts, the girls of the Bonney Lake High soccer team have proven themselves to be among the region’s elite squads.
That’s not exactly a surprise, considering the Panthers returned a core group from the 2017 squad that won 14 of 17 games, placed second in the Pierce County League and advanced to the Class 3A state tournament.
The 2018 edition hasn’t missed a beat, scoring goals early and often while limiting the opposition to almost nothing.
Through six games, including last Thursday’s rout of Mount Tahoma, the Panthers had scored 38 goals. Included in the offensive onslaught were six-goal nights against PCL foes Lincoln and Wilson, 10 tallies against Spanaway Lake and, most recently, 11 goals during a Sept. 20 rout of visiting Mount Tahoma.
The only goal allowed by the tandem of senior Eliza Christensen and sophomore Cat Flynn came in the season opener, a 4-1, nonleague victory over Black Hills High.
Coach Wayne Farris was, perhaps, unsure how he would handle this year’s Panther pack. Early on, it appeared he would have to carry a bit more youth on his varsity roster than he preferred. Soon, it was evident how this would work in the team’s favor.
Pretty quickly, Farris said, “I realized success would not be found in holding these girls back and showing them the ropes a little at a time.” Instead, they were put to the test.
Success, he said, “would be found in throwing these young girls into the fire and letting them soak up the instruction like a sponge, while staring down older upperclass opponents face to face. So I gave them homework to do, some leadership opportunities, and even more minutes…including some starting opportunities.”
The results cannot be argued. As a wise coach once preached, you are what your record says you are.
Balancing the youth movement was a senior class Farris could count on. “They have such a camaraderie and a unity of spirit,” Farris said, singling out the likes of team captains Summer Kober, Payton Schelin and Ashley Nall.
A fourth captain is junior Kaylee Coatney and no tale of Panther successes is complete without highlighting the exploits of the state’s reigning Class 3A Offensive Player of the Year. Since first donning a Bonney Lake uniform, Coatney has been a scoring machine, compiling a laundry list of impressive honors.
But she was in for a bit of a change this time around, adapting to what Farris calls a “slightly modified role.”
Putting a range of the junior’s talents on display, “we will rely less on her ability to score and more on her ability defend and distribute,” the coach said.
The early-season statistics show the approach has paid big dividends. After six contests, Coatney has buried eight goals and dished out 11 assists. Other leaders include freshman Serena Cacciatore who has six goals and sophomore Ash Hollenbeck with five. Kober has tallied five goals and five assists.
The Panther youth movement includes sophomores Haleigh Delaire and Star Matsukawa.
All this has created cautious optimism in the coaching ranks.
“We have much to learn, but I’m confident we’ll keep moving in the right direction,” Farris said. “We’ve already had goals tallied from 10 different goal scorers this season, which tells me we can move the ball around, change the point of attack, and still find weapons around the field.”
The returning talent, contributions by newcomers and the early success has morphed into the Panther mantra of “212 degrees.” As Farris explains it, that’s the temperature at which hot water begins to boil and produce steam – and steam is a incredible thing, he preaches, able to power a locomotive.
If any group can find the extra focus and determination necessary to turn in a 212 degree effort, Farris said, it’s his current group. “They are, each one, difference makers,” he concluded. “Powerful young ladies full of purpose and vision, a real pleasure to coach.”
