The Bear Creek School adjusts to life after state title

Bear Creek gets a shot towards goal but the Bush wall keeps the slate clean for the Blazers. (Dale Garvey)

The Bear Creek School Grizzlies of Redmond, Washington, won the 1B/2B state title in girls soccer in 2011. The follow-up season is underway and the Grizzlies find themselves with a 2-3 record after five matches, most-recently dropping a 1:0 match to The Bush School Blazers on September 20th.

Bear Creek head coach Brandon Gonzalez says the school is still looking for breaks and new leaders after five matches. “The Bush game was a close match that should have swung in favor of Bear Creek. We out-shot Bush 13 to 6 and had many opportunities to score. Hitting the crossbar twice, and missing three one on one breakaways in the final 12 minutes that could have easily put us on the scoreboard.”

The Grizzlies out-shot the Blazers 13 to 6 but couldn’t beat the Bush defense as the Blazers won their first match of the year, 1:0. (Dale Garvey)

During the first half of the match, in the 12^th minute, Bush was able to strip the ball from a Bear Creek defender right outside the 18 and take a quick shot on goal catching Bear Creek goalkeeper Maya Shipway off her line. The shot sailed right over her into the back of the net. That would stand up to be the only goal of the match as Bush held out to win their first game of the season. (1-4).

Gonzalez and his team are still adjusting to being defending champions in 2012. “After winning the 1B/2B State Championship last year and returning 10 players, we had expectations of having a breakout season. However, after losing seniors Morgan Rial, Danielle Isbell, and Halle Colman, it’s been hard finding the leadership on the field,” says the Grizzlies head coach.

The defending 1b/2b state champion Grizzlies are learning to play with a young roster. (Dale Garvey)

“With only two returning seniors, ten new freshmen, and a starting lineup that consists of nine lower classmen, we are off to a less than impressive start with a record of (2-3). We have a lot of potential, are a young team, and will take this year as a learning experience, growing the program and making every effort to lead it in the right direction.”

Bear Creek travels to 1A Friday Harbor on Saturday in search of their third win.

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