HS Soccer: River Ridge Continues Strong Start with 3-1 Win Over North Thurston

10/3/25

River Ridge 3, North Thurston 1

(Lacey, WA) Two cross-town rivals met at South Sound Stadium for a 3A PSL battle. River Ridge is having a great year and has a lot of momentum going their way. Already 5-2-1 coming into the game, which is a major improvement over the last couple of seasons. Head coach Kristen Luikkonen has complete confidence in her team. She believes that they have what it takes to make a serious run in the postseason. Sergio Jimenez is the first-year head coach for North Thurston, who has experienced significant coaching turnover in the last few seasons. He is working on turning the team around and building a culture for his team, and with time, it will come.

First Half

North Thurston came out of the gate being more aggressive on offense. Keeping the ball in their possession in the opening minutes. One of the keys to the game is coming in was to keep the ball out of the hands of Ridge’s Michele Pringle, who already had 16 goals coming into the game. This was short-lived, however, as the offense for the Hawks was led by Emily Shelling, and Michele Pringle started to take over. For the rest of the half, River Ridge primarily kept the ball on their side of the field. Michele Pringle found herself with another goal on a massive strike from the far side 20-yard line on a free kick in the 22nd minute. She has been known to take shots from deep all season, and this was no exception. The Hawks would take a 1-0 lead. Minutes later, Emily Shelling would shoot from almost the same spot. Striking from right to left, Shelling would score the second goal of the game in the 24th minute. River Ridge entered halftime leading 2-0.

Second Half

The second half was more even between the two teams in terms of time of possession. The ball spent a lot of time round the sideline, going out of bounds often and switching possessions. Both teams also started to shoot on the goal more actively. North Thurston had almost no opportunities in the first half but had a number of attempts in the second. With the ball traveling back and forth for most of the half, the third goal of the game for the hawks came in the 22nd minute. On a corner kick for River Ridge, Michele Pringle setup a beautiful pass that Sophia Richards took full advantage of. Richards headed the ball in and right pass the keeper to take the 3-0 lead. The Rams would find their fist goal in the 37th minute on a corner kick where the ball find its way in front of Molly Littaurer. After having he ball fall in her lap she took a shot for North Thurston’s first goal of the game. Time would expire and River Ridge would win 3-1

MVP and Stats

Our MVP of the game went to Sophia Richards. She not only had an outstanding game on defense where she is one of the key pieces for the Hawks. She also got herself a goal on the night which is not the most common for her position. He defense was game changing for River Ridge as she stopped a number of opportunities for North Thurston that could have turned into goals. Her great defensive play paired with the goal got her the MVP

Other notable names on the day were Michele Pringle and Emily Schelling who scored for River Ridge as well as Madilyn Prado who has 4 saves on the day. For North Thurston, goalie Isabella Barnett was great on defense with 7 saves on the day. Molly Littauer as well with her goal in the final minutes of the game

North Thurston will be back next Tuesday (10/7) to take on Lakes High School at home with a 7:00 pm kickoff. River Ridge will face Timberline next Tuesday (10/7) as well at home with a 7:00 kickoff

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