Written By:  Sam Palmer
             West Region Contributor

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Just a glance at the Northwest Conference standings was all it would have taken to tell anyone that the Westside Timbers was in for a tough match when it hosted PacNW on June 5. Three matches into the season, PacNW had collected three wins while scoring fourteen goals and conceding just three. Even on the road, against a solid outfit like Westside, one could be forgiven for automatically thinking the likely outcome was another victory for the maroon-clad women of PacNW. 

 

However, Westside Timbers had other ideas. From the kickoff, it was clear that its intelligent pressing was disrupting the slick passing that has characterized PacNW’s play so far this season. The Timbers players had to weather some early pressure, conceding a number of shots in the first few minutes, but found their footing and slowly began to impose themselves on the match.

 

The first reward for Westside’s labor came in the 12’ minute when Nedya Sawan picked up the ball from thirty-five yards out and lashed it goalwards with enough swerve to deceive the goalkeeper and make it 1-0 to Westside. 

 

 

Mikayla Topaum made it 2-0 just twelve minutes later when she intercepted the ball deep in PacNW’s defensive third, cut past a defender, and curled one in at the near post. Although perhaps reeling from conceding more goals in 25 minutes as it had in the previous two matches, PacNW was able to muscle its way back into the picture quickly, as a bullet header from Hailey Still made it 2-1 in the 33’ minute. A few minutes later, Kaitlyn Abrams picked up a cutback and laced it past the outstretched arms of Sidney O’Billovich to level things at 2-2.

 

PacNW’s comeback lost a bit of steam at this point, although it continued to test O’Billovich in the Westside goal. In fact, it was Westside that pulled its nose in front just before the half-time whistle, as Maggie Phillips collected a blocked shot and found the net from a tight angle just inside the 18-yard box. A frenetic half thus ended with a score of 3-2, narrowly favoring the hometown Timbers. 

 

Although the pace barely seemed to slacken once play resumed in the second half, the goal-fest did cease, at least for a short while. Although scoring opportunities abounded, it took until the 73’ minute for another twist in the tale of the match.

 

PacNW’s Emily Bunnell put in a corner that pinballed around the penalty spot before being poked home by Still, giving her a brace on the night and leveling the score at 3-3. Just moments later, PacNW took a quick free kick in its defensive third and linked several quick passes together down the left flank before finding Kailey Utley, who skirted around several defenders and hammered a right-footed shot past O’Billovich to finally make good the comeback for the Tukwila visitors: 4-3 to PacNW.

 

Had the match ended like this, no one in the stands could have felt that they were denied a spectacle - but there was more to come. With barely a pause to catch its breath, the Timbers took the ball straight from kickoff up the field, working it to the right wing where Eva Vlassopolous put in a high ball that hung in the air before plummeting, whether by accident or intention, right into the top-left corner leveling the scoreline again at 4-4. 

 

 

 

When PacNW kicked off, it was immediately under pressure from the Timbers’ midfield, which succeeded in winning the ball quickly off its PacNW counterparts. Phillips found herself with the ball, and when it left her foot, there was no doubt about her intentions. This was no hanging cross or hopeful long ball. It was a precisely weighted lob from 40 yards out which sailed just under the crossbar to cap the night off in spectacular fashion, giving Westside the winning scoreline of  5-4. 

 

As the final whistle went, rain was starting to streak down on the field. It was a fitting bookend for a Northwest Conference classic; not only a highly entertaining match on its own terms but also one which seems to blow the conference picture wide open.

 

 

PacNW is proven fallible - its rhythm can be disrupted, its defense penetrated. On the other hand, Westside Timbers has shown that it can not only beat but put five goals past one of the top teams in the region. Neither team gets a break this weekend, and the Timbers play two matches in two days to collect some of its matches in hand. The season now begins in earnest in the Pacific Northwest. If last Sunday is any preview,  it will be exhilarating and there’s no telling who will end up on top.