Author:	Ashlee Pedersen
	Grade:	Junior
	School:	Mt. Spokane HS
	Mascot:	Wildcats
	League:	Greater Spokane
	Classification:	3A

Hi, my name is Ashlee Pedersen and I am addicted to sports. Sports have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started doing club basketball and soccer in the 2nd grade. They came easy for me probably because they both involve running. Before I did sports, my family and I would always go camping and go on long assiduous hikes. I was constantly playing with my cousins and running all over the place. I think this helped adjust to the sports I do today. Every sport I do requires running, and I try my best to use that to my advantage. Both my parents were runners and are incredibly supportive and involved in everything I do. They are constantly telling me things I do well...and things I need to improve on. But without their critiquing, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Before this year, the furthest our school? has ever gone in soccer was the elite 8 into ?State. But last fall my school soccer team had an? amazing season, and finished second in state!? The year was almost perfection. We started pre?season winning against some of the smaller? schools thinking it’s not a big deal (little did we? know). Our coach Campanella made our team? make goals, one of which was to be undefeated.  ?He said that in order to do that we would have to? win State. Our response was that we knew that.?  When league play started, people initially? thought some of the bigger schools in the GSL? were going to be victorious over us, but we never let down. Our first big win in league was against our rivals Mead. It was a semi-close game, but we never gave up and beat them for the first time in a few years. Our next critical win was against Gonzaga Prep who had previously been the team to beat. Throughout the entire season we kept our winning streak. Not one loss. We were GSL champions beating all the 3A and 4A teams.  When regionals came, we knew we would have to step up our game. The whole team was still determined to never lose.

Kamiakin always has outstanding athletes and has always been a challenge for Mt. Spokane. We lost once my freshman year and won my sophomore year, but we defiantly bang heads every year. This year was a little different though. We played them the first time on our field which is grass and has mud here and there. They were furious thinking it had given us an advantage and that the next time they played us it should be on turf. Of course this only fired us up. We played them on turf under the lights and beat them 4-0 that weekend. You could say we were a little worked up that game.

When State came our coach wanted us to make it to the final four because our school has never made it that far. Our winning streak prevailed and we won all of our games to get us there. By this time, it was travel time. Our teams first road trip that year was a memorable one. We came with high hopes for a State Championship title and a perfect 22-0 record. The team parents decorated our bus, gave us gift packages, and sent us on our way. The first game was stressful, but we pulled out another win! Our last game was for the State Championship. No one ever thought we would make it that far. Some of the kids from our school even drove the four hours to Seattle to come cheer us on. It was a stressful and extremely close game, but we lost by a goal. Our shots were just not going in. It was depressing. The whole team was crying and disappointed with how close we finished, but that’s when the team captains told us not to be miserable that we didn’t win, but to be proud of how far we went. We eventually got over it and were proud of what we had accomplished: 1st in GSL, Districts, and Regionals.

I am very proud of every one person on the soccer team and feel extremely privileged to have gotten to participate in the experience. I'm happy to say there was not one fight that whole season. It was such a wonderful group of girls and I loved hanging out with all of them on and off the field.