Grant boys soccer downs Cleveland in PKs; Central Catholic girls soccer to 6A final

LENTS – After getting through regulation and overtime with no score, Grant and Cleveland boys soccer couldn’t miss in penalty kicks Tuesday, Nov. 10 at Marshall High School in the 6A state semifinals.

Both sides hit their first two before Grant senior Sam Whitman rang one off the near post to give Cleveland a 3-2 advantage.

However, Cleveland’s Zephyr Schlitz returned the favor by sailing one high and Grant converted to knot it back up at three through four rounds.

The two sides hit on the next eight shots to send the PKs into a ninth round tied at seven. And with Cleveland up first, Grant senior goalkeeper Finn Proctor finally came up with the big play, making a save to his left.

Then, it was Grant junior midfielder Evan Hamilton stepping up to the line to try and send the Generals back to the state title game with an 8-7 PKs win.

The Cleveland keeper dove to his left, but the shot went to the right.

Ball game.

“Honestly, it was a lot of pressure, I’m not gonna lie,” Hamilton said. “I just tried to stay calm, not rush my penalty. It was all kind of a blur, I just kind of stepped up there and took my pen. I saw the keeper going right so I tried to switch it back left and it worked out for me.”

“I didn’t think he was the kind of player who wanted to go back across goal,” Proctor said of what he saw on his ninth-round save. “I saw his run up and he opened his hips and from there – once he starts that run, if he starts curling it and goes too narrow he’s never going across.”

Proctor had plenty of time to sit in net and think throughout the evening as Cleveland dropped back defensively most of the match. The Warriors were missing star senior Oscar Johnson and another potential goal scorer in junior midfielder Sam Copus, the latter of which suffered a collarbone injury last round against South Eugene.

With that, the Generals controlled the ball for a majority of the match and pushed it often into the Warriors half of the field, but consistently were stymied in the final third.

That kind of forward pressure led to a couple breakouts going the other way for Cleveland, but the Grant backline always got back and kept the shot attempts to a minimum against Proctor.

“The defense is amazing, they got everything, I had to do almost nothing,” Proctor said while getting water splashed on him by teammates. “They did a fantastic job. Callum (Broadfoot) bossed the back line. It was a great performance by them and I want to credit our midfield and attack too. That second half, we absolutely dominated them.”

Proctor was correct in his analysis as the second half started to see more and more Grant attacks get close to scoring. One appeared to go in late in the second half of overtime on a throw-in, but the ball wasn’t touched on the pass in and was disallowed.

In PKs, Cleveland was up first and scored off the foot of senior defender Gibran Chavez-Nolasco. Grant senior forward Ewan Massimino was next and hit to tie at one.

In the second round, it appeared that Proctor made a save on Cleveland senior midfielder Cormac Alperin, but the line judge ruled that Proctor left the line early and Alperin hit on the second attempt.

Broadfoot was next for Grant and hit, followed by a goal from Cleveland senior forward Mosley Campbell to go up 3-2. Whitman and Schlitz traded misses and Grant senior midfielder Rowan Spain hit to tie at three after four rounds.

“We were just saying, ‘Stay calm,’” Hamilton said of the team talk after the miss. “Obviously Sam was a little distraught that he missed, but we all cheered him up. And all that sadness went away when we saw their player miss. It was very composed on the side, we were never frantic.”

Cleveland’s next four goals came from senior defender Cole Christensen, senior midfielder Julian Daniell, senior forward Max Morrison and senior midfielder Abe Frick.

Grant returned the favor with goals from senior midfielder Isaac Mautz, senior midfielder Jack Fullerton, senior defender Sawyer Brakken and sophomore midfielder William Neuner.

With each passing round of sudden death, Proctor tried to remain calm and wait for the time where he’d make the deciding play.

“It’s just the next one, it’s a routine,” Proctor said of his thought process. “I go through that every single time. We go top of the sixth, take the pen and if it doesn’t happen, you grab the ball and give it to your teammate and just keep going.”

“(Proctor) only had one real practice day, which was yesterday,” Grant head coach Erik Miller said. “We worked on helping him come out and control his box a bit better and he did that tonight. He really stepped up when the team needed him.”

Proctor made the save on Cleveland junior midfielder Clyde Mashburn and Hamilton hammered home the winner to get Grant back to the 6A title game after the Generals reached it last year.

Getting back to this stage hasn’t been easy as Grant had to take out another PIL foe in the quarterfinals in No. 3 Lincoln, a team the Generals lost to 2-1 in the regular season.

Grant tied Cleveland 2-2 in the regular season, but this time it won in the brightest lights.

“Something we’ve talked about a lot this year is trust the process, control what we can, try to block out noise and most importantly have fun out there,” Miller said. “We spent a lot of time on the mental side of the game, which is the most important thing to handle these moments. For them to do that tonight gives them confidence going into the next round.”

That next round will be against No. 1 Jesuit at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 inside Hillsboro Stadium for the state crown.

Grant made the state final last year, but fell to Beaverton 4-2 in PKs after being tied 1-1 through regulation and overtime.

With 15 returners from that team, the Generals don’t need a reminder of how much that loss stung. And with a PK winner on Tuesday, the Generals feel like they’re ready to complete the revenge tour and take home the program’s second ever state title.

“(Jesuit) is a very good team,” Proctor said. “We’re going to come in with the underdog mentality. It’s going to be: come in, we’re the underdogs, and we’re gonna fight for every single thing.

“You better be ready because we’re going to battle our butts off.”

Central Catholic girls head to 6A final

For only the second time in program history, Central Catholic girls soccer will be playing for a state title.

After heading into overtime tied with No. 7 Mountainside, the No. 3 Rams got a goal from freshman phenom Joan VanSandt in the 49th minute off a corner kick.

Three minutes later, it was sophomore Claire Sdrulla scoring off a blast from 30 yards out into the upper right corner.

Central Catholic held on from there to advance to the final for the first time since 2007. The Rams lost out on the title off a 3-1 defeat in PKs to Lincoln.

The opponent will be No. 1 Jesuit, who defeated Lincoln 1-0 on Saturday to return to the title match looking for a third consecutive crown.

The Crusaders are unbeaten in 52 consecutive matches and are ranked No. 2 in the country by United States Coaches.

The Rams will certainly be underdogs for the Holy War matchup, but they'll be ready to go when the match kicks off at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 at Hillsboro Stadium.