Hazen’s dream season came to a halt Wednesday night in a 4-1 loss to Seattle Prep at Renton Memorial Stadium. The loss knocked Hazen out of their first state tournament in 20 years.

Hazen was in the game with 15 minutes to go after senior captain Chelsea Delgado scored off senior outside midfielder Melissa Carney’s assist to cut Prep’s lead to 2-1.

Prep scored two late goals to put the game out of reach.

Hazen’s season got off to a rough start with a forfeit against Auburn Mountainview. After that, Hazen was up a game and down a game. They ended up with a 12-8-0 record. Of the seven on field losses, six came against teams that ended up in the state tournament.

“The other team was Kennedy,” said Hazen Coach Ken Matthews in a press release. “Every Highlander knows that story.”

This year Hazen won a league championship, beat Kennedy in the return match and qualified for state for the first time since the 1990s.

“A couple of weeks ago a teacher stopped me in the hall and said congratulations on the Seamount Championship. Imagine this, I was kind of at a loss for words and mumbled something about we haven’t done anything yet,” Matthews recalled.

“I hope I see that teacher tomorrow. We’ve really done something now. I’m the coach; I never can be satisfied. Tonight, I am. This group of young ladies rode it as far as they could. I am very proud of them,” he continued.

With the loss, Hazen also said good-bye to eight varsity seniors. When asked, Matthews said he would prefer to discuss this senior class a little later.

“There are no words I can come up with right now to adequately describe what this class has meant to our soccer program,” Matthews ended.