The Montesano Bulldogs placed fourth in the state at the conclusion of the 1A State Tournament on Saturday in Federal Way.

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1A State Semifinal

Cedar Park Christian 5, Montesano 0

Montesano’s hopes of reaching the state-title game for the first time in program history were dashed with a 5-0 loss to Cedar Park Christian on Friday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

The top-seeded Eagles (17-3-1 overall) gave No. 5 Montesano (17-3-2) all it could handle throughout the first half, controlling possession while working the ball consistently through the midfield.

CPC took the lead when a shot off the far post was bodied into an open net by senior forward Deandra Dan in the 15th minute.

A few minutes after an Eagles goal was disallowed on an offsides call, Dan doubled the lead when she scored off a long cross to the far post in the 32nd minute.

Monte faced a 3-0 hole at halftime after Dan secured a natural hat trick on a goal off another cross in stoppage time of the first half.

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano midfielder Ashley Hill (3) competes for possession against Cedar Park Christian’s Christina Tselios during a 5-0 loss in the 1A State Tournament Semifinals on Friday at the Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

Dan added goals in the 52nd and 55th minutes as the Eagles handed Montesano its most one-sided loss of the season.

The Bulldogs were outshot 20-3 in the game, with Bulldogs goalkeeper Izzie Taylor saving 15 shots in the game, including multiple point-blank attempts.

It was Monte’s second loss to the defending state champions this season after falling to the Eagles 3-0 in the second game of the season, one in which the Bulldogs were without standout forwards Lex Stanfield and Jaelyn Butterfield.

Both played for Montesano in Friday’s semifinal and produced a handfull of Bulldogs offensive chances moving forward.

But the CPC defense was ready to thwart the Monte duo’s dangerous give-and-go play, holding the Bulldogs attack to just one shot on goal, which came in the game’s final minutes.

Montesano 0 0 – 0

Cedar Park Chr. 3 2 – 5

Scoring

First half – 1, CPC, Dan, 15th minute. 2, CPC, Dan, 32nd minute, 3, CPC, Dan, stoppage time.

Second half – 3, CPC, Dan, 52nd minute. 4, CPC, Dan, 55th minute.

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1A State 3rd/4th-place game

Bear Creek 3, Montesano 2

(Bear Creek wins 4-1 on penalty kicks)

Montesano saw a two-goal lead late in the game evaporate en route to a 3-2 loss (4-1 on penalty kicks) to the Bear Creek School in the 1A State Tournament third/fourth-place game on Saturday in Federal Way.

Coming off a disheartening loss in the state semifinal less than 24 hours earlier, the Bulldogs (17-4-2) jumped out to an early lead when midfielder Lainey Robinson scored just five minutes into the game on an assist from junior midfielder Mayce Sanchez.

Montesano doubled its lead in the second half when junior forward Jaelyn Butterfield scored in the 58th minute to give the Bulldogs a commanding 2-0 lead.

But as it had done in key games this season, Montesano let the lead slip away late in the game.

The Grizzlies (19-3-1) scored a goal in the 69th minute followed by the game-tying goal seven minutes later to push the game to overtime.

Robinson and senior forward Lex Stanfield had shots on-goal down the stretch, but neither found the back of the net to force the game into overtime.

After two scoreless overtime periods, the game went to a penalty-kick shootout.

Bear Creek converted its first shot before a miss by Sanchez.

The Grizzlies went up 2-0 on a conversion followed by a miss by midfielder Ashley Hill.

Another Bear Creek make followed by a goal by Butterfield to make it a 3-1 shootout score.

The Grizzlies converted their fourth attempt to secure the shootout victory and hand Montesano the loss.

“Against Klahowya we had a 2-0 lead and it ended in a tie. In the (District) final, we had a 2-0 lead against Seton (Catholic) and gave it up. And against Bear Creek, we had a 2-0 lead and we gave it up,” Monte head coach Fidel Sanchez said of his team’s inability to close out games against some of the state’s top programs this season. “So that’s something we’ve got to address, how we close out games.”

Sanchez commended this season’s squad for their mentality and acheivements, including helping the program reach the Final Four for the fourth time in five seasons.

“Highly coachable, highly driven, well led by the senior captains. Losing seven starters coming into this season was a big question mark, but these girls answered every question we had and more,” he said. “It was a good season. We met the objective. It was awesome to get there. But we just have to figure out how to get to that final. To get to that final, you have to have a deeper roster and get lucky along the way. … We didn’t have a healthy team until the 14th game of the season. If you look back at the season, you have to be good and lucky and we were a bit unlucky just because of the fact that we had players that were injured. Even in the end, we had seven players getting taped every game. It’s really difficult to get to a Final Four and even more difficult to stay healthy in the Final Four.”

Montesano 1 1 0 0 0 – 2

Bear Creek 0 2 0 0 1 – 3

Scoring

First half – 1, Montesano, Robinson (Sanchez), 5th minute.

Second half – 2, Montesano, Butterfield, 58th minute. 3, Bear Creek, 69th minute. 4, Bear Creek, 76th minute.

First overtime – none.

Second overtime – none.

Penalty kicks: 4, Bear Creek. 1, Montesano (Butterfield).

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano winger Haley Schweppe (44) moves the ball up the field during a 5-0 loss to Cedar Park Christian in the 1A State Tournament Semifinals on Friday at the Federal Way Memorial Stadium.