DES MOINES — Two years into its existence, and the Peninsula College women’s soccer team has won an NWAACC division championship.
The Pirates clinched their first-ever West Division crown with a 1-0 victory over the Highline Thunderbirds on Wednesday afternoon.
Shelby Solomon headed home a rebound in the 66th minute to boost Peninsula (12-1-0 in West, 13-2-2 overall) to its 11th straight win and wrap up the division with three matches left in the regular season.
“It’s surprising to be able to be successful this quickly, but not really when I look at the quality of the people and the quality of the players who are a part of it,” Peninsula women’s head coach Kanyon Anderson said.
“We knew going in [to the season] we had the talent to win the thing and that was our goal.”
The shutout was the Pirates’ eighth this season, with starting goalkeeper Krystal Daniels accounting for seven of those.
She didn’t have to work too hard on Wednesday, however, with the Pirates dominating possession of the ball throughout against Highline (8-4-1, 8-6-1).
“We were the team in the attack,” Anderson said.
“At one point they shifted to a three-striker system, but they couldn’t really get anything out of that. The only question was if it was going to be 1-0 or 0-0. They didn’t look very dangerous.”
The Pirates finally struck for their goal in the 66th minute, after Tabitha Bare drew a foul outside the penalty box to set up a free kick for Jackie Rodgers.
Rodgers then blasted a kick that the goalkeeper deflected off the cross bar with a diving save.
The ball rebounded out to where Solomon and a Highline defender were standing, and the Alaskan sophomore rose up to head it into the goal.
“It was in congestion and it was sort of who could go up and get this thing, and she was able to sort of out-jump their defender,” Anderson said.
With the win, the Pirates lock up the division title in time to rest their starters for a playoff run.
The division title ensures Peninsula of a bye in the first round of the NWAACC tournament followed by a home match in the quarterfinals.
The Pirates will play the first of their final three regular season matches Saturday against Olympic at Sigmar Field at noon.
Their last regular season home match will be against Lower Columbia on Nov. 2.
Peninsula 1, Highline 0
Peninsula 0 1 — 1
Highline 0 0 — 0
Scoring Summary
First half: No scoring.
Second Half: 1, Peninsula, Solomon (Rodgers), 66th.
Men’s Soccer
Peninsula 0, Highline 0
DES MOINES — The Pirates earned their second tie in two matches to maintain their grip on first place in the NWAACC West Division on Wednesday.
In a matchup of the NWAACC’s top two teams, the top-ranked Pirates were held scoreless for the first time this season.
Still, with Peninsula (9-0-2 in West, 15-0-2) able to keep Highline (8-1-1, 10-1-2) out of the net as well, it was able to put itself two wins away from a third straight West Division crown.
“It was a good result for us,” Peninsula men’s head coach Andrew Chapman said. “We’re pleased with it.
“We’ll always play for a win, but we knew if we tied it would put us in a good position, so we didn’t feel like we had to push for anything at the end of the game.”
Peninsula was missing a handful of midfielders because of injuries and a suspension and was actually out-shot 9-6 on the game.
Pirate goalkeeper Jared Wilson set a single-season record with his 10th shutout of the year, breaking a mark (9) previously set by Jared Hoffman in 2007.
“He had some good saves, and set another record, so that was nice,” Chapman said.
“We had a couple of good opportunities, but not a whole lot like we normally have.”
The Pirates will close out their regular season home slate with a game against Olympic (5-3-3, 7-4-4) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
They will then travel to Bellevue on Nov. 5 to close out the regular season.
