Spokane Shine sweep weekend, await Sunday's result in Issaquah with division title in balance

The Spokane Shine (yellow) beat the Oregon Rush 6:0 on Saturday July 14 to take the lead in the Northwest Division of the WPSL. (Erik Smith)

The Spokane Shine did what they had to do. They earned two victories to finish their second WPSL season with a 6-2-2 record and 20 standings points. Now the women in yellow from the Lilac City will have a nervous night thinking about what could happen on Sunday evening in Issaquah.

Spokane has taken the WPSL Northwest Division lead at the finish line. On Friday night at Joe Albi Stadium Spokane used an early second-half goal to edge Emerald City FC 1:0. It was the first-ever loss for the expansion Seattle club. On Saturday afternoon the Shine blanked the Oregon Rush 6:0, putting that club out of its miseries and ensuring them a winless season.

“We did what we had to do,” Shine head coach Jason Quintero told Inland NW Soccer News. “We were a little bit complacent at the start. Even though we had three goals we really weren’t playing well at all; and actually the halftime speech was one of the tougher ones on the players than previous games where we weren’t winning at halftime becuase we were kinda being lackadaisical and all that stuff.

“I think it’s tough when it’s back-to-back, and [also] just the pace of the game. Oregon Rush did a good job just slowing everything down, which they needed to do, but we did what we needed to do. We ended the regular season on a high note.”

Sunday night at 7 PM at Issaquah High School Emerald City plays Issaquah SC. Issy have 18 standings points and are lurking just beneath the Shine in the table. An Issaquah win would give them the title and a regional playoff berth. An Emerald City win or a draw and the Shine will be Northwest champs.

Erik Smith was at Saturday’s big Shine win over Oregon and shares photos with goalWA.net here and at Facebook.com/goalWA.

A sunny day at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane was greeted with a Shine win over Oregon. (Erik Smith)

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