By Kyle Howard

Eastside Catholic went up against West Seattle in a Metro League matchup on Thursday night at Rainier Beach High School. West Seattle was the first seed for the playoffs after winning their division; Eastside Catholic was the number 3 seed. No time was wasted for Eastside Catholic who started the scoring just a minute and a half into the game with a nice header from Malia Bachesta on a corner kick giving them the 1-0 lead.

West Seattle goal keeper Hailey Watkins was very busy with Eastside Catholic’s offense controlling the game. The Crusaders had nine shots on goal in the first half, but Watkins did a great job defending the goal. With time running down in the half K.K. Standish scored with 2:25 left on the clock. Just 25 seconds later she scored her second goal pushing their lead to 3-0 at the half. Eastside Catholic outshot West Seattle 9 -2.

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The second half proved to be more of a defensive battle as the scoring slowed down. West Seattle’s defenders made a lot of great stops against the Eastside Catholic offense. West Seattle goal keeper Hailey Watkins made several more great blocks, having to jump and dive to prevent potential goals.

With 11:30 left on the clock Eastside Catholic received a penalty kick, West Seattle swapped out their goalies just for this play when Savannah Bogan took over.

The kick was taken by Quinn Phillips who scored making it 4-0. The Crusaders scored one last goal from Elizabeth Escobar to end the game with a 5-0 shutout victory for The Crusaders by beating the first seed Wildcats.

Eastside Catholic head coach Scott Brayton said after the game that “We had good possessions throughout the game, were able to attack their goal a lot, were finally healthy now as well, we’ve got all our seniors and juniors back." On the other side West Seattle coach Kevin Fisher said “We played well, but we didn’t come out fast like we needed to, we had a lot of chances but we didn’t put them away."

He also gave credit to Eastside Catholic, “They came out and played hard, and they finished their chances, and that was the difference.”