SNOHOMISH, WA—The Snohomish County FC Steelheads Women are the 2022 Champions of the Northwest Premier League Indoor season after a convincing 9-1 win over the Tacoma Galaxy before a packed house at the Snohomish Sports Dome on April 23.
BACK ROW, L-R: Jamie Bialek, Vasco Rubio, Kiana Jacobson, Nikki Bowlden, Megan Jones, Estera Levinte, Nicole Nsa, Jordan Lemieux, Anna Roslander, Sarah Stochel, Shauna Marshall. MIDDLE ROW: Maggie Tonkin, Mariah Roggow, Alicia Barker, Mireya Grey. FRONT ROW: Chalise Baysa, Alma Mana’o, Nikole Cruz, Brooke Pingrey, Jeff Christianson. CENTER FRONT: Kaitlin MacKenzie.
Seven Straight Wins To A Trophy
The victory concluded a season (7-1-1) that saw the team lose its first match, draw its second…and then go on a seven-match winning streak to claim the title.
During the regular season the Steelheads and Galaxy played two close matches. The first ended in a 2-2 draw at the Dome. The second was a 5-4 SnoCo FC win that sent the championship decider to the Dome with the Fish as hosts.
The Final was a complete team effort of smothering defense, important saves, crisp passing and clinical goals. It was a whistle-to-whistle performance for Snohomish County.
Watch a complete match replay from our YouTube Channel.
The Steelheads took a 1-0 lead with just over two minutes played when Alma Mana’o placed a shot on goal in the upper right corner that was redirected in by Chalise Baysa. Estera Levinte ran the pitch and rocketed home a blast at 6:26 of the first quarter and Snohomish doubled their lead.
The second quarter saw the Steelheads continue to boss the match. They made it 3-0 about 4 minutes into the period when Jordan Lemieux stuck with a ball on the boards on the right side and then found Anna Roslander in the box. Roslander touched with her left and then roofed a shot into the goal with her right foot.
Kaitlin MacKenzie came up big with a sliding leg save to keep the match at 3-0 with seven minutes left denying the Galaxy a rally point.
The Steelheads were getting plenty of chances and they forced the Galaxy into a time out after Brooke Pingrey took a free kick on goal that slipped past the goalkeeper and into the net. It was 4-0 with six minutes to play until the break. That’s how it read as the teams went into halftime.
Answering The Second Half Whistle
The Fish saw the Galaxy make a comeback when they met the week earlier. This time Snohomish made sure there would be no rally. Instead, the Fish came out kicking and pulled away in the third quarter.
Snohomish began the third period on the power play. Brooke Pingrey scored her second goal of the match on a blast from the far right that rocketed into the left corner of the Tacoma goal. Just a minute and a half had gone by and it was 5-0 Steelheads.
Back-To-Back For The Knockout
Three minutes later it was 6-0 when Alicia Barker’s effort in team pressure resulted in a take-away in the Tacoma end. Barker rolled the ball out to Anna Roslander who perfectly placed her own rolling shot into the lower left corner.
Not stopping, Snohomish County added a seventh goal. After the kick off from the previous goal, Alma Mana’o took the ball down the pitch, shot and then followed her own rebound into the back of the net. The one-two punch put the match result in little doubt. It was 7-0 Snohomish. The Steelheads had scored three goals in the first five minutes of the third period.
Tacoma’s only goal of the match came with four minutes left in the third. A free kick at the top of the box from Arica Slawson was rolled left and then knocked in by Delaney Smith.
Closing Out The Championship
The Steelheads saw the match out with two more goals and more team defensive pressure. Alma Mana’o got her second goal of the match with six minutes to play when she slotted home a shot off a pass from Alicia Barker. Just over a minute later it was 9-1 when Estera Levinte’s shot was followed home by Kiana Jacobson. The supportive crowd had been chanting for ten goals much of the night and this put the Dome into a frenzy. But the Steelheads played it calm and classy and saw the match out without further scoring.
