Cheney soccer qualifies for playoffs

After further review the good news is that Cheney girls’ soccer has once again reached the Greater Spokane League playoffs after last week’s results.

But things would have been vastly different had replay been in place following the Blackhawks’ 4-2 loss to Ridgeline, Oct. 17.

“Monday, we played at Ridgeline and scored a goal to go up 2-1 but the referee disallowed the goal,” Cheney head coach Nels Radke reported. Video evidence shows the ball clearly bounced past the goal line, but that cannot overturn an outcome he added.

Cheney (8-8 overall) could have had a 3-2 lead going into halftime at Ridgeline, but Kaiti Low’s goal was disallowed. “(That)would’ve changed our strategy for the second half,” Radke said. Alex Miller scored the first goal in the eighth minute to knot the game at 1-1. Low scored the second goal in the 39th minute sending Cheney to the break tied 2-2. Kiah Klauss had 6 saves.

How much might a different outcome have meant? “A lot would have changed had we won that game,” Radke said. Not only would it have evened Cheney’s GSL record at 5-5 but turned seeds topsy-turvy.

“Had we won that game, Ridgeline would go from the No. 2 GSL seed to the No. 4, and we would have gone from the No. 5 GSL seed up to the No. 3 GSL seed like last year,” Radke explained. It also means instead of playing at Mead, the No. 2 overall seed, Cheney would have hosted the No. 3 seed from the Mid-Columbia Conference.

As it all played out, Cheney split those matches, nabbing a 2-1 Senior Day win over Ferris, Oct. 19.

Miller scored both goals against Ferris, in the second and 10th minutes, sending seniors Elliana Barden, Emersyn Heuett, Kaiti Low and Kensie Roller off on a nice note. Klauss had 5 saves.

Cheney opened post-season playing at No. 1 seed Mead (7-2 GSL, 12-3 overall) on Oct. 25 in a loser-out affair. “We lost 3-0 earlier this season but really didn’t play well,” Radke said. “We’ll be ready for the game.”

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at pauldelaney53@comcast.net.