PORT ANGELES — Andrew Chapman usually starts drawing up a diagram this time of year.
Filled with all sorts of different match outcomes and scenarios, it serves as a road map toward an NWAACC West Division title for the Peninsula College men’s soccer team.
The ninth-year head coach can go ahead and draw a straight line on this year’s schedule.
After beating the Bellevue Bulldogs 4-0 on Wednesday for their 15th straight win to begin the season, all the Pirates need to do is keep on winning and they’ll claim their division going away.
“We had an idea with the big returning class and with what they had done in the spring that we could be very dangerous,” Chapman said after his 90th career win as Pirates head coach.
“They are doing all right. It’s just a matter of trying to keep it going, and it’s about that time for us to raise it one more step.”
One more step? With the Pirates already outscoring teams 59-6 in 15 matches this fall, it’s hard to imagine that even exists.
Dean Gaynor scored a pair of early goals, and Miguel Gonzalez added his 27th goal of the year as the Pirates cruised past the fifth-ranked Bulldogs (3-3-3 in West, 4-3-4 overall) on a brisk autumn afternoon at Sigmar Field.
The win puts top-ranked Peninsula (9-0-0 in West, 15-0-0) three points ahead of Highline (7-1-0, 9-1-1) atop the division standings as it bids for its second straight West crown.
It also clinched the team’s seventh straight trip to the NWAACC playoffs with four games to go.
The Pirates have now won 19 matches in a row dating back to last season’s NWAACC title run.
“We have a complete team this year,” said Gonzalez, who has now scored in the Pirates’ last 14 matches.
“I thought we might have a good season, but not this great.”
Gaynor got the Pirates going early with a hustle goal in the ninth minute.
The freshman forward and Bellevue’s goalkeeper converged onto a ball near the edge of the penalty box, but the keeper’s hasty attempt at a clearance bounced off a Bulldog defender and right to Gaynor’s feet.
The Irish import quickly touched the ball to his right foot, then ripped it into an open net for a 1-0 lead.
Eight minutes later, another Bulldog clearance went right at Gaynor on the ground. He then quickly jumped back up to his feet and ripped a shot past two defenders for a 2-0 lead.
“He was just putting pressure on them and being physical,” Chapman said.
Thanks to some superb work by goalkeeper Jared Wilson — who made four diving saves of Bellevue shots on frame in the first half — that lead held up going into the break.
The Pirates then turned up the heat on Bellevue in the final 45 minutes, spreading the ball out wide and attacking with pace.
Sean Prizeman eventually won a ball in the Bulldogs’ third of the field in the 70th minute and fed Gonzalez for a shot nearly 30 yards from goal.
The sophomore striker then squeezed it into the right corner for a 3-0 lead.
“I received the ball, turned and I saw the goal open so I just took a shot,” Gonzalez said. “The goalkeeper was on the left side, so I just tried to place it on the far post and it worked.”
Gonzalez returned the favor to Prizeman in the 82nd minute, dishing off a pass to the charging forward in the middle of the penalty box for another score.
Wilson added one more spectacular save of a Bellevue header in between the goals to preserve the shutout, his ninth of the year between the posts.
The Alaskan sophomore had 10 saves on the game.
“Tao [Shen], the coach from Bellevue was like, ‘Why does he have to have his best game today?.’ I said, ‘No, he plays like that,’ Chapman said.
“There’s a reason why he was the NWAACC tournament MVP last year. He can do stuff like that.”
Peninsula 4, Bellevue 0
Bellevue 0 0 — 0
Peninsula 2 2 — 4
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Peninsula, Gaynor (Gioseffi), 9th; 2, Peninsula, Gaynor (Warren), 17th.
Second Half: 3, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (Prizeman), 70th; 4, Peninsula, Prizeman (M. Gonzalez), 82nd.
Women’s Soccer: Peninsula 3, Bellevue 1
PORT ANGELES — A showdown of NWAACC West Division contenders turned into a ninth straight win for the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.
Peninsula got goals from three different players and limited Bellevue (6-3-2 in West, 6-5-2) to just three shots as it extended its division lead to 8 points with five games left on the regular season schedule.
The win also clinched an NWAACC playoff berth for the Pirates (10-1-0 in West, 11-2-2), who are now 2 for 2 in postseason trips in their brief two-year history.
“We’re going to be hard to catch now,” Pirates coach Kanyon Anderson said.
“We’ve just won nine consecutive, and I never would have guessed that [before the season].
“To be this consistent is surprising. It’s a pretty good feeling.”
The Pirates opened the scoring nine minutes in with a goal by Shelby Solomon, her team-best sixth of the season, off an assist from Morgan Atchley.
Peninsula then made it 2-0 at the 36-minute mark on a goal from midfielder Jackie Rodgers off an assist from Kirah Kanari.
Bellevue, however, rallied for a goal 13 minutes into the second half off a free kick to tighten things up, but the Pirates answered with a long goal Tabitha Bare in the 75th minute.
The Pirates sophomore collected a Kendra Miner pass 10 yards outside the penalty box, then blasted it into the upper left corner of the Bellevue goal to put the game out of reach.
“I thought we played really well in the central midfield,” Anderson said.
“Jackie Rodgers was very, very good today. Deidra Woodward was really good.”
Both Peninsula clubs will go on the road for its next two games at Tacoma on Saturday and Highline next Wednesday.
If the Pirate women can somehow win both, they will clinch the program’s first ever West title.
“I thought we played really well,” Anderson said.
“The two previous games we had played really poorly, but today we were excited and we were at home in front of a nice crowd and we brought our best game.”
Peninsula 3, Bellevue 1
Bellevue 0 1 — 1
Peninsula 0 0 — 0
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Peninsula, Solomon (Atchley), 10th; 2, Peninsula, Rodgers (Kanari), 37th.
Second Half: 1, Bellevue, LeRoy (free kick), 59th; 2, Peninsula, Bare (Miner), 75th.
