ROYAL CITY — ‘Somos uno,’ the Wahluke Warriors (9-7) chanted after defeating the Lakeside Eagles 3-0 Saturday to punch their ticket to the 1A state tournament for the second straight season.  

“I'm proud of the work that we have done with the girls,” Head Coach Cele Lopez said. “We have a bunch of inexperienced girls, and they're putting the work in. They believe in the message; they believe everything we said in practice. They try their best, and that's the result. We’re from a small community, we share athletes with all the other sports, so there's no offseason for them, so I'm just glad that that we can show future generations that with hard work, even with inexperienced players, we can achieve everything we put our mind and heart to.” 

It’s been a turbulent journey through the District 5 1A Girls Soccer Tournament. After a narrow 4-3 loss to Cascade, a 7-0 bounce back win over Wapato, a 5-0 shutout loss to Naches Valley, the Warriors found a run of success with back-to-back wins over the Zillah Leopards 3-1 on Thursday and the Eagles to take their place in the state tournament. 

Against Zillah, the Warriors were successful in keeping possession of the ball and dominating the midfield. Led by players like Keyla Garduno, Alexandra Rodriguez, Morgan Harlow, Yohari Magana and Bela Mendoza, the Warriors took a 2-0 lead by halftime. 

From there, they continued to fight off any efforts by the Leopards to advance their attack for most of the second half, only allowing one goal late while Mendoza sealed the win with a third goal. This win put them in the District 5/6 1A Crossover against Lakeside on Saturday.  

Against the Eagles, the Warriors continued with the same approach; an aggressive attack led by efficient passing and strong awareness of the midfield. The Eagles challenged Wahluke a few times throughout the first half, earning a couple of opportunities to execute corner kicks, but they never resulted in goals. It was a battle for most of the first until Magana scored Wahluke's first goal off an assist by Rodriguez which they carried into halftime.  

It was apparent the Eagles made adjustments at halftime to better challenge Wahluke, but the defense remained strong. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes left in the game that Mendoza found an opening center of the field to score a goal and build the lead to 2-0. Minutes later, Magana beat defenders to the ball to set up a one-on-one goal opportunity which she delivered on to seal the 3-0 win.  

Even with young players, Lopez and the Warriors keep finding ways to win.  

“We have our good planning,” he said. “The formation is working now. Everybody feels more comfortable in positions, and they start believing the message. They start believing that we can do it, that we can pull it off, and that's a powerful weapon. We're on a roll. It's always fun to see girls improving and believing that we're capable of achieving whatever we want.” 

According to Lopez and Magana, the Warriors haven’t just been fighting for a spot in the state tournament – they have also been trying to rebuild community pride in their athletic programs for future generations. 

“I feel like we just all wanted it really bad,” Magana said after their win over Zillah. “We want to be the first in our school to go back-to-back to state, and I feel like that would just be so great. Not just for us, but for other generations. Our coach always brings that up, and that's really important to motivate other generations because the girls' soccer program every year, there's less and less girls joining. We really hope that this leaves a legacy behind, especially with our team full of seniors. We really hope to make that impact.” 

In attendance for Saturdays win was Tony Langdon, a former boys soccer coach Wahluke who once coached Lopez when he was a student-athlete at Wahluke High School. 

According to Lopez, ‘Somos uno’ began with Langdon and is now carried on by him.  

“I was blessed to be part of the program and the first championship for the boys in high school,” Lopez said. “Since (then), I fell in love with soccer, and I tried to promote that. That saved my life. That's a good message for everyone, and it's pretty cool that these new generations (are) going with it.” 

For Langdon, it’s great to see his philosophy having an impact to this day.  

“He's just doing the same thing he always does, lead, inspire and love the kids, take them to the next level, gets the best out of the kids,” Langdon said. “'Somos uno' is rich and deep. It makes me emotional, and I just love that he keeps it alive, and the girls believe it.” 

At press time, seeding and game schedules had not been announced by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Those details will be made available in the Tuesday edition of the Columbia Basin Herald.  

BOX SCORE: 

Game one 

ZLLA: 0-1: 1 

WHLK: 2-1: 3 

Game two 

WHLK: 1-2: 3 

LKSD: 0-0: 0 

    Alexandra Rodriguez (14) taps the ball down in front of a Lakeside defender.
  

    The Warriors’ Keyla Garduno (21) gains control of the ball with a Lakeside defender on her heels.
  

    Yohari Magana (17) finds a one-on-one shot opportunity against Lakeside on Saturday.