It wasn’t a pretty game, battled on the turf in pouring rain, but at the end of 80 minutes that didn’t matter to the Lake Washington boys soccer team. All that mattered was they won. The Kangs stepped one place closer to a state tournament berth with a 1-0 win over Mercer Island Wednesday night.

“Tonight’s game, it wasn’t pretty we ran and we ran and we ran.  This team has a tremendous amount of heart,” said Kangs head coach Shaun Warner. “These guys just don’t give up.”

After beating Mount Si 2-1 in the first round of the KingCo playoffs, the Kangs advanced to play Mercer Island, who came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Lake Washington entered as No. 3.

After a brutal first 34 minutes during which Mercer Island controlled most of the pace and possession, Lake Washington senior midfielder Taylor Stapf took the ball and sprinted for 60 yards down field. He was tripped up in the Islanders goal box, giving the Kangs their first big chance of the night – a penalty kick. With just under six minutes on the clock, Justin Manao lined up his shot and blasted it past goalie Nico Terentjev for the 1-0 lead.

“This game we got the one goal lead and then just held on for dear life,” said Warner. He said the duo told him before the game they were both extremely nervous, knowing on the line was their senior season, and a chance to get farther into the playoffs than Lake Washington boys soccer had been in years.

For the rest of the match, it was a frantic back and forth game, as Mercer Island edged closer and closer to the goal, but Kang goalie Andreas Verrduzco stopped everything. It was just the fourth game this season when the Islanders didn’t score.

“Our goal keeper Andreas was just phenomenal for stopping those shots,” said Warner.

The Kangs will now play Saturday, May 14 against Ingraham, the No. 4 team from Metro. The game will be held at Interbay Stadium in Seattle at 1 p.m. On the line is a berth to state as the No. 5 team from District 2.