MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake Mavericks soccer team (8-6-1) earned a 3-0 win during the Big 9 district play-in round against West Valley on Tuesday evening to move on to the next round in the district tournament. 

“I think we really came out to play today and I’m very proud of us,” said Mavs senior Miciah Higley. “Just very excited for what comes next.” 

The game started off defensively for both teams in the first half, with the ball being pushed from one side of the field to the other as possession changed hands. Throughout the first half, the two teams’ goalies stayed strong, making blocks at the goal and entering halftime with a score of 0-0. 

Going into the second half of the game, the Mavs came out with a strong offensive front and scored three goals from Erin Ribellia, Mikayla Sawyer and Lindsey Davis. On defense, Moses Lake continued to hold its opponent scoreless to win the game 3-0.  

Higley said this was the first time in her career with the team that they’ve made it into the second round of playoffs, which makes it all the more exciting for her to see how far the team can go this season. 

“I think we just really wanted to win and that really helped us today,” she said. 

Mavericks senior Amaya Perez said the team did a great job keeping up their intensity throughout both halves, which was one of their main focuses coming into the matchup, alongside keeping up their positivity. 

“We’ve had some problems with that in the past, not coming off strong, but we did really good throughout the second half, really coming back with that 0-0 first half,” said Perez. 

Perez said the greatest strength for the Mavs during Tuesday’s game was their effectiveness in performing passing combinations. 

“We were really good at getting to the ball first and making sure we win those 1v1s and making sure we know where our passes are going,” she said. 

Head Coach Alysha Overland from the Mavericks said the team played a great game overall and came out with fire right from the very start. 

“They brought energy, and they got more energy as the game went on,” she said. “No matter what happened, they just had each other’s backs, and I think they just went out there and you could see that they just wanted it the whole game.” 

Getting to this game was a big goal for the team this season and once they got here, the goal became making it past this game and pushing forward as far as they can into the postseason, said Overland. Coming into the postseason, she told the players to clear their minds of what happened throughout the season and see it as a clean slate to move forward with. 

A key takeaway for the Mavs from this game is to not get comfortable and learning that playing simply is what makes the team successful. She said the team’s ability to hold their composure and play together for a full 80 minutes is something that is going to energize them as they move forward in the postseason. 

“Everyone just went in, did their job and did it right,” said Overland. 

Both Perez and Higley said they are looking forward to playing their next game. They said the Mavs will be working hard in practice Wednesday, where they will benefit from improving their communication on the field and will continue adjusting to the new formation they’ve been working with.  

Overland said she is going to work on giving her players a little bit of recovery time before their next matchup and will mostly have practice focused on tweaking the little things that she saw throughout the game Tuesday. 

The Mavs' next game will be on the road Thursday as they face Eisenhower at 6 p.m. in the second round of the district tournament. 

BOX SCORE:  

MLHS: 0-3: 3
WVLY: 0-0: 0 

    Moses Lake’s Mikayla Sawyer works to maneuver around a player from West Valley during the first round of districts on Tuesday.
  

    Chelsea Gonzales from the Mavericks moves the ball along the sideline towards the opposing goal during Tuesday’s matchup.
  

    The Mavs’ Cayla Throneberry (15) rushes toward the ball in the midfield during Tuesday’s matchup against West Valley.
  

    Erin Ribellia from Moses Lake gets ready to for a penalty kick during Tuesday’s district matchup.