The Tyee Totems met the Foster Bulldogs in boy’s high school soccer on Friday night, April 29 at Highline Stadium and battled to a 1-1 draw.

First Half
The first 39 minutes of the first half were scoreless, but not without chances for both sides. Tyee had five shots (two on target) while Foster had six (three on target) with both goalkeepers playing well and getting a hand to those on frame.

Foster nearly put one in with 15 minutes left in the half when Meron Falu sprinted onto a through ball and managed a chip shot over Tyee’s keeper who came off his line. Tyee’s defense kept with the play and cleared the goal-bound looping shoot off the line, saving the chance.

Tyee’s recent goal machine Zaki Mahamud (Coach John Yellam said he has scored four goals in the last four games and just recently moved up to varsity from JV) sat out the first 20 minutes of the first half with a nagging leg injury. Upon entering the game his physical presence was immediately felt by Foster’s backline who started focusing attention on the forward.

In an otherwise evenly matched first half, Foster created more sustained offensive pressure on Tyee’s goal as the first 40 ticked down, but with a minute left Mahamud created his own opportunity.

Stealing the ball from a Foster midfielder at 30 yards out, Mahamud turned on goal, took four deft touches while using his size to shed two Foster defenders and slotted a low, well placed shot to the right post. Foster’s keeper got a hand on the ball but it stayed true and Tyee went into halftime up 1-0.

Second Half
Five minutes into the second half Foster’s Masse Gashay pulled the Bulldogs even. Fidel Ekubazgi played a chipped through ball from center at about 25 yards to Gashay who was crashing on goal from the right flank. He took the ball just inside the 18-yard-box and cracked a shot to the far post, out of the Tyee keeper’s reach and into the net. 1-1.

As the second half progressed Foster took majority control of possession and had more pressure on the Tyee goal. Tyee started to show signs of fatigue and reacted with long ball counterattacks that didn’t pan out, but played solid defense and kept the scoreline at a draw.

Wrap Up
“It’s another example of where you can dominate a game and you don’t get the result you want,” Foster Coach Matt Shields said after the game. “It’s a cruel game but that’s soccer. I’m proud of the way we played, it wasn’t lack of effort.”

“I though we had them,” Tyee Coach Yellam said. “I though we were going to get them there in the first half – we outplayed them. In the second half I think us playing three games in one week kind of took us a little out of it. Our push was there but you could tell we were about a half step off and that was the difference of us being able to get another goal out.”

Referee centers final game
The match between Tyee and Foster was the last game for center referee Brian Langlis who is retiring after 21 years.

Langlis has officiated college, professional, international, high school and youth competitive soccer in his long tenure and said over that time the men’s game has gotten “faster and stronger.”

“The girls tend to be more of a finesse game and the girls’ have gotten a lot stronger too,” he said.

As for standout memories from his career, Langlis said officiating a couple women’s international games in Bellingham between the Canadian and U.S. national teams and working the western youth regionals will stay with him.

“It was fun, I enjoyed it,” Langlis said of his final match, which he officiated in a tight but fair manner.

“I’m going to be 66 this year so it’s time for the younger kids to take over. I need to preserve the joints that are left,” he said with a smile.

Langlis was headed to his home in Kirkland after the game and said he planned to take a long soak in the hot tub. Well deserved after 21 years of keeping up with a game that has only sped up over time.