Lions soccer makes first final four in school history

The 3A state tournament of 2024 might go down as one of the most interesting soccer tournaments in recent memory. A big part of that is the Auburn Mountainview Lions, who keep on winning and are in the semifinals for the first time in school history after a 3-2 win over Bainbridge High School on May 18.

Two days after defeating Shorewood, the number one team, you would think that the Lions would come down to earth — after all they are the 17 seed.

But they are showing no signs of stopping, especially Davyd Fedina, who just can’t go without scoring goals.

“It is a little surreal. I am just glad that the season is not ending. I got two more games with these guys… I just love this group of guys. We have had more talent at this school, but have never had this good of team. That is what is keeping us alive,” said Manager Joey West.

Since starting the state tournament, Fedina has recorded two hat-tricks and scored a pair of goals in the win over Bainbridge.

Auburn Mountainview got out to a lead midway through the first half on a 38-yard free kick from Fedina. He curled it into the top left corner and was immediately swarmed by his teammates. The bond this group has is special.

“He’s un-human. Nobody can stop him. He is something special,” said senior Nate Esayase.

Around eight minutes later, Esayase sent a ball over the top of the defense. Fedina was able to break loose and scored the second goal of the game and extended the Lions lead.

“We are a family, we all want to play for each other. We play together and it’s all love over here,” Esayase said.

The second goal was Fedina’s eighth goal of the state tournament, and he just continues to show what a difference maker he is.

“He’s the best player in the state for sure. I don’t see anybody matching him,” West said.

At the halftime whistle, Auburn Mountainview took a 2-0 lead into the locker room, but West knew no lead was safe with the quality that Bainbridge had.

In the second half, Bainbridge got loose. It looked like the Lions were a completely different team. The energy and life were nowhere to be seen and they looked like they were facing a 2-0 deficit, not leading. The Spartans made them pay for their passive play style as well.

“We tried to play too defensive and let off the gas a little bit. It wasn’t our play style. It put us a little off,” West said.

In the eighth minute after the break, Bainbridge took advantage of some sloppy defending and beat Jonathan Ochoa-Felix for their first goal of the game. Less than three minutes later, the Spartans got their much-needed equalizer and really put a panic into the Lions.

But for whatever the reason, once the game was on level terms, Auburn Mountainview was able to settle the nerves.

The game was tied at 2-2 for 13 minutes when Benji Toscano was rewarded for the effort he put into this contest. Joshua Martinez flicked a header to Toscano, who used some clever footwork to avoid a defender and scored in close quarters.

“He’s been putting in the work and dishing the ball to Davyd a lot … Davyd wanted Benji to get the goal (today),” West said.

The final moments of the game were incredibly stressful. Three yellow cards were given out, with Bainbridge winning three corners and even appearing to score on one of those corners, but the ball was sent in the net with a handball.

West took over the program in 2018 and made the state tournament in 2019. When the pandemic hit and spring sports kicked back up in 2021-22, West had to restart, and the buy-in is finally paying off.

“They’re finally buying in and living it out. We’ve been working on creating this thing and the seniors have been there every step of the way. For them to be like ‘Oh this is what you’re talking about’ and it’s happening is really cool,” West said.

The Lions take on thirteenth seeded Garfield in the final four May 24 with a trip to the state tournament on the line on May 25.