MARYSVILLE Arlington threw a wrench in M-Ps postseason plans, defeating the Tomahawks 1-0 on their senior night and throwing the home teams quest for a league title into doubt.
M-P had several opportunities to score in the April 29 game, but it was Arlingtons senior forward Schyler Furrer who found the goal, assisted by Mario Rodriguez, with nine minutes left in the game.
The win was Arlingtons second consecutive marquee win, after defeating Monroe 3-2 April 25. With their third loss of the season, M-P fell to second place in the league behind a two-loss, one-tie Snohomish team that held on to beat Lake Stevens in overtime the same night.
The Tomahawks best opportunity to score came near the end of the first half, when a penalty against Arlington midfielder Robert ODay set up an M-P penalty kick.
The move of ODay an all-conference defender last season to midfield has correlated with the teams late-season success.
He plays like a 6-foot-plus kid, one of those guys every coach wishes he could clone, said Arlington coach Mike Gudgeon.
But the coach saved some of his biggest praise from the game for two more seniors, goalkeeper Keith Bayer and Furrer.
Keep is so huge. We didnt even test their keep until Schylers shot, Gudgeon said of Bayers shutout performance at Quil Ceda Stadium, adding, Schyler is one of those guys who is dangerous in the open field.
Arlington has played like a team with something to prove, which is exactly what motivated the team, the guys said.
Monroe beat us so bad last time, Furrer explained as their motivation to beat the Bearcats. We carried that in.
We wanted to knock off another ranked team, Bayer added.
The back-to-back wins come against teams slated or expected to play in the class 4A playoffs. While neither Furrer nor Bayer will be on next years team when the 3A Arlington team rejoins the 4A classification, the boys said they wanted to make a statement to the rest of the league about their program.
We wanted to show people were here to stay, Bayer said.