Hazen soccer secures spot in district championship

In Hazen High School’s first season as a 4A school since 2019, the Highlanders boys soccer team is back in the District 2 4A championship as the 10th seed in the tournament.

“We are pumped. We are just ready for any team. This year we just have a different energy and a different level,” Nathen Song said.

The Highlanders downed the Bothell Cougars 2-1 on May 15 on the back of two Nathen Song goals in front of a special fan who made his way up from Renton to Pop Keeney Stadium.

Carson Bevers doesn’t have any family members on the team, no connections other than playing his own youth soccer in Renton. Along with his mom, Candice, the two of them made the trip up to Bothell to watch the Highlanders play.

“He’s been playing on a soccer team called South Renton Select and their team has all been excited about Hazen having a great season,” Candice said.

After the win, the team brought Carson onto the field, where he got their autographs and even was put on the shoulders of Niko Uzelac for a photo after the win.

“He was excited to come and thrilled to go on the field after the game,” Candice said.

“And I got all of their signatures,” Carson exclaimed.

Hazen played in the KingCo Mountain division this past season. Due to the Highlanders not playing in the top tier, they were given the seventh seed and played in one loser-out game in the KingCo tournament and have played in two loser-out games in the district tournament, all while not losing a game the entire season.

“I feel like we have been disrespected a little bit. We are just trying to prove to everyone that we should be higher up in the ranks,” Song said.

What transpired on the field was a full team win. From the early moments of the game, the entire Hazen lineup brought the physical factor to the pitch. The Highlanders are a menacing team already with players like Uzelac, Vitaly Polyukh and Nicholas Ngo, who all stand above 6 feet tall. This Hazen team is ready for whatever tasks come their way.

“I think they just have a belief in themselves. They set out goals at the beginning of the year and have gotten really close to them as the season has come along. We have been teaching them, if you take a punch in the face, you gotta know how to respond, and our guys did that tonight,” Manager Ryan Johnson said.

Hazen’s defense was able to hold against a fast start from Bothell, and even got a few chances in the attacking third, but couldn’t find the net until the 23rd minute.

A long ball sent over the top from Ngo found Polyukh down the left-hand side of the field near the penalty area of Bothell. Polyukh sent a pass to Song near the top of the penalty area and he sent a left footed shot into the back of the net for the first goal of the game.

“We train hard, we work hard. On and off the field we are like a family. We will die on the field for each other to be honest,” Song said.

The rest of the first half was quiet as far as the score was concerned. The Highlanders came close to taking a 2-0 advantage, but the second goal was scored by Bothell in the early stages of the second half.

Bothell’s Max Anitei had been a force all game, both physically and using his speed to put a lot of pressure on the Highlanders’ back line. He finally broke through and leveled the game in the 44th minute and swung momentum back in favor of the Cougars.

Twenty-two minutes later, the Highlanders responded and would hold off Bothell. In the 66th minute, Song found space behind the Bothell backline, took a touch to beat Peyton Weber and kicked the ball into an empty net.

That wasn’t the end of the drama, as the Cougars had two shots on net that Owen Pruitt made miraculous saves on. The first shot he went aerial and dove to his left to make the save, and on the final kick of the game, stood tall for a point-blank save on a shot from Anitei.

“We love Owen. He got goalie of the league in our league this year. Today just proved why he won that award,” Song said.

Hazen takes on No. 1 seeded Woodinville in the district championship. Hazen already has locked up a top eight seed in the state tournament. But a win over Woodinville would likely give the Highlanders a top three seed in 4A.

“Woodinville is really tough. We’ll have to come up with a good game plan for it. We are in the game, so that’s a start. We didn’t have an opportunity to win league, but we have a chance to win the district. Of course we got other goals coming up with state,” Johnson said.

As for Carson, he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to watch the championship game due to his own soccer schedule, but the Highlanders helped make a memory of a lifetime.