1981 Meadowdale High School Girls
Soccer Team

WASHINGTON STATE 1981-82 CLASS 4A GIRLS SOCCER CHAMPIONS

The 1981 Meadowdale high girls soccer team was the first to win a Washington State high school girls soccer state championship. At that time, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) required eighty (80) teams in the sport for a state championship playoff. During the 1981-82 school year the requirement was met and girls soccer teams were not offered a new challenge—competing for a state championship.

Meadowdale, a Class 4A school, was in the WESCO conference and they placed third in the final conference standings. They were not expected to win the state title but they qualified to compete in the pre-state tournament playoffs and they won all three games advancing them to the four-team state finals. Roger Bray, an elementary school teacher, was the team’s head coach and Bill Bluhm was the assistant coach. Two of Bray’s daughters, Gayle and Leslie, were members of the team.

The first-ever girls soccer championship finals was played on Auburn high’s new and very beautiful astro-turf stadium. For the two days of the tournament, over 1,000 enthusiastic fans attended the games. Meadowdale defeated Cascade in one of the semi-final games and it was then on to the championship game, which was played in rainy and windy conditions with winds gusting to 25 miles per hour. Their opponent was the undefeated and once tied Hazen Highlanders. Hazen led 2-1 at halftime and coaches Bray and Bluhm decided to more aggressively mark Hazen’s attacking forward, No. 1.

This strategy helped as Hazen was scoreless in the second half while Meadowdale scored once to tie the game at 2-2. It remained tied at 2-2 at the end of the 90 minute regulation time. Two five-minute sudden death overtimes followed with neither team scoring so it was time for an exciting tiebreaker shootout, which is was as it was still tied as it came down to the final two kickers. The Hazen player kicked first and she missed her shot. Meadowdale’s Karen Turner made her shot and the match was over.
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Back Row, left to right: Head Coach Roger Bray, Cindy Buck, Co-captain Patty Clemans, Carol Rettig, Shannon Dodge, Rhonda Beavin, Karen Turner, Co-captain Linda DeBoer, Denise Hipp, Doreen Simon, Kathy Steele, Donna Boivin, Ann Ninneman, Co-captain Gayle Bray, Assistant Coach Bill Bluhm.

Front Row, l eft to right: Terri Hudson, Heather Heys, Tawnia Manson, Tonja Hall, Lisa Harris, Leslie Bray, Heidi DeCillia, Cathy Kowalski, Debbie Valentine, Stephanie Thomas, Denise Gray, Stephanie King, Tricia Fairchild, Lisa Hanning, Amy Ziessler, and Gayle Kinder. (Meadowdale Yearbook photo by Allen Thorsteinson)