Trailing Woodburn 1-0 early in Tuesday’s Class 5A state semifinal match, Summit never faltered.

And after the Storm got the equalizing goal, the floodgates opened to send the No. 1 Summit boys soccer team back to the state championship match with a 3-1 home victory over the No. 5 Bulldogs.

The Storm is making their fifth title game appearance in the last six seasons and will try to win their second straight state title and third in the last four years. Summit (15-2-1) will face No. 2 La Salle (12-5-1) in the 5A championship match Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Hillsboro Stadium.

“We’ve been talking about how we’re going to get scored on probably, with these good teams in these big games,” said Summit coach Tom Bunnell. “The way we responded was crazy. We completely got down to controlling the game, 100 percent. The ball was on the ground, moving, defending. It was awesome.”

In the sixth minute, Woodburn’s Diego Albizo made a quick run and was able to get behind Summit goalkeeper Lucas Carter, who charged toward the ball. Albizo fired the ball into an empty goal for the early 1-0 lead.

Instead of playing scared, Summit was patient, and its opportunity came on an indirect kick by Avery McRobie from 30 yards out. He floated it into the box and junior Evan Kapsa deftly headed it into the goal to tie the game 1-1 in the 29th minute.

“I knew he was going to float it into the top of the (box),” Kapsa said. “Just that ball coming right at my head, that’s just luck, but flicking it into the side of the net, it can’t be any better than that. I knew it was in right away. I didn’t even have to look at it. That’s half his (McRobie’s) goal.”

Bunnell said he liked the change in his team’s mindset after the equalizing goal.

“Once we got the goal we really took the game over,” Bunnell said. “And the energy came back. That’s what we needed to get excited.”

In the 36th minute, Summit freshman Will Newton dribbled down the left side and fired a left-footed shot from about 10 yards out to the far post and into the goal for a 2-1 halftime lead.

Woodburn (11-4-2) had a couple of chances early in the second half to tie the game, as Eduardo Salazar-Topete and Israel Perez each had shots bounce off the crossbar.

In the 53rd minute, Summit senior Kaden Roskowski was able to blast a left-footed shot out of a crowd of players and into the goal for a 3-1 cushion.

“We knew we could get it back, and it was just a matter of time until we got one more goal, and we ended up getting three,” Kapsa said. “The first 15 minutes for us, it’s sometimes a little slow like you saw today, but after that first goal, the floodgates opened and there’s no stopping our team, for sure.”

Summit is back in the state championship match after losing 11 seniors from last year’s title-winning team. This season they are led by 10 more seniors, who know what it takes to win a championship.

“We lost 11 guys, really good players,” Bunnell said. “And these guys know how hard it is to defend a state title. We had a rough patch in the beginning of the season, and we weren’t playing the way I wanted them to. It was interesting, because there was frustration. Then, it kind of clicked after a while and we all got on the same page.

“I’m just so proud of them the way they’ve done it.”

Kapsa said he was excited for the seniors to get back to the championship match, and he made a bold prediction.

“We are winning it all, just you guys wait.”

Crook County falls

in 4A semifinals

No. 2 North Marion defeated No. 3 Crook County 2-1 on Tuesday night in a Class 4A boys soccer state semifinal match in Woodburn.

The Cowboys, the champions of the Tri-Valley League, finished their season with a record of 13-2-2.

North Marion will face No. 4 Henley in the 4A championship match on Saturday at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.