Auburn girls soccer coach Adam Ladage has nothing but praise for his team.

“This is a great group of kids. They worked really hard and spent a lot of time in the offseason,” he said. “This is one of the most dedicated groups I’ve seen, and it shows on the field in the way they play.”

The praise is well deserved for the Trojans.

This season, after a string of losing campaigns – including a 2-12-2 record last year and a 3-11-2 finish in 2010 – the Trojans strung together an 8-7-1 regular-season finish, good for a fourth-place finish in the South Puget Sound League North 4A and a spot in the postseason.

Auburn – which finished the season with a 9-8-1 overall record – not only fought its way out of the SPSL tournament but beat Olympia 1-0 in a district playoff to earn the program’s first trip to state since 1982.

“Our goal at the beginning of the season was just to make it to the playoffs,” Ladage said. “And that was a lofty goal with three consecutive season with just two or three wins. So making the playoffs was a big step. But once we got there, we decided to make some more goals.”

On Tuesday the Trojans – playing in the program’s first state tournament game in 30 years – fell 5-2 to No. 8 Central Valley at Spokane.

Auburn junior Hana Mizoguchi and sophomore Makayla Sonstelie had goals with senior Linda Karout adding an assist for Auburn.

Despite the loss, Ladage called the state appearance a step in the right direction for the program, which will lose five seniors to graduation.

“We’ve got a lot of girls with experience in a state game now,” he said. “We hope to be able to build on this for next season. (For the seniors) it will be harder to replace them as captains and leaders rather than on the field. They’ve done a good job leading the team. Those seniors are five of the most dedicated people you’ll ever find.”