Prep Girls Soccer: The BZM All-Area Team
Just for Kicks — Spotlighting the best players on the pitch in The Blast Zone
Jordan Nailon / blastzonnews@gmail.com
MVP
Karsyn Ross, senior, Kelso
There hadn’t been a lot to write home about for Kelso girls soccer in recent seasons, but that all changed this year when Karsyn Ross put the Lassies on her back and carried them as far as her powerful legs could muster.
Kelso missed out on the 3A Greater St. Helens League championship it so desperately desired, but wound up in second place before taking their show on the road for the postseason. After 12 wins and five losses it all came to an end far from home, but nobody who saw the Lassies play this season will soon forget the way that Ross led them on a season-long uphill charge into enemy territory.
Just ask Kelso soccer coach Kyle Tatro, who called Ross, “a dynamic player that has (the) ability to create and score goals in (a) number of ways. She is a player of great skill, maybe one of the best players to play at Kelso.”
In her final season in blue and gold Ross scored 28 goals and assisted six more. For her efforts she was named the 3A GSHL co-Player of the Year. She was also named a BZM Athlete of the Week.
Next fall Ross will begin her collegiate career with Cal Poly Humboldt.
Offensive Player of the Year
Alice Anderson, senior, R.A. Long
Anderson is no stranger to the top portion of honorary lists, and she proved her previous accolades were no fluke in a senior season to remember. She was named the 2A GSHL Offensive MVP after scoring 20 goals and assisting 22 others for the Lumberjills, and was also chosen as a BZM Athlete of the Week.
“Alice was our playmaker,” RAL girls soccer coach Taylor Wallace said. “A vast majority of our goals over the last few years have come through her.”
Anderson was a team captain for R.A. Long, and will continue her playing career next fall at Seattle Pacific University.
Defensive Player of the Year
Sydnie Walters, senior, Kelso
Walter scored one goal and assisted two others this season. Not impressed? Well, you should be, because she’s a natural-born defender who was put on Schroeder Field to stop scoring attacks, not finish them.
But that doesn’t mean the first team 3A All-GSHL selection didn’t know how to make herself a dual threat.
“A true defensive leader on our team. She uses her speed and knowledge to stop opposing teams’ attacks,” Kelso coach Kyle Tatro said. “She is also very good at transitioning to attack and finding dribbles or passes out of the defensive third.”
Co-Coaches of the Year
Horst Malunat, Toledo
Taylor Wallace, R.A. Long
The Riverhawks’ Boss
After several years away as a mercenary style head soccer coach for hire, Horst Malunat brought his love for the beautiful game back to South Lewis County this year. The former Toledo-Winlock United boys coach took his turn coaching the Toledo girls team this season and the results were impossible to ignore.
In 2023 the Riverhawks finished 4-12-1 and were eliminated from the playoffs after the first game of the district tournament. One year later, and with Malunat once again spreading his love for the world’s game to every corner of Toledo, the Cheese Town kickers finished 10-8-1.
Malunat moved his pieces on the playing field until he found a combination that clicked the loudest and the Riverhawks earned themselves an appearance in the District championship game before winding up eliminated at the state tournament in a game that went beyond overtime and deep into penalty kicks.
“The team made a huge improvement from last year,” Malunat said. “Really proud of my team.”
The Lumberjills’ Boss
Coming off consecutive trips to the 2A state tournament it was difficult to judge from the outside looking in what exactly the expectations were for this year’s R.A. Long girls soccer team. After all, they’d graduated five starters from the previous season and they play in a slobberknocker of a league where just making the postseason is an accomplishment to be celebrated.
But with all that change, the Lumberjills didn’t let their sights slip on the horizon, and a third straight appearance in the state tournament proved that R.A. Long has indeed moved on from being a perennial Cinderella story to a certified force to be reckoned with.
“After losing five varsity starters last year, we weren't really sure what our standards were,” Wallce said. “After the summer tournament, we thought the playoff picture could be a reality, and we focused on getting back to state, which we ultimately achieved.”
And as Wallace himself noted, his squad has also won back-to-back Lower Columbia College summer tournaments. That might not sound like a big deal to you, but you’re not a Jack or Jill trying not to fall back down the hill.
And if every day is an opportunity to make a deposit or a withdrawal, then R.A. Long was the team that was busy computing compounding interest and diversifying its portfolio on the weekends.
“That's the nature of high school soccer,” Wallace said. “We have to take the raw ingredients we're given and create something special, and over the last few years, I truly believe we did that.”
And with their collective bank statement in hand, the only regret for the red and black is that they weren’t able to cash in for an even greater prize. And if you’ve read this far, you are one of the first to learn that R.A. Long will be looking for a new coach in the offseason following Wallace’s recent low-profile resignation.
“Ultimately the season ended with a loss, and it really stung that evening,” Wallace said. “The girls spent the season working their tails off, and, like I said, I'm proud of them. Looking back on my last season in charge of the Jills, I'm glad I could help them achieve a successful season one last time.”
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