MOUNT VERNON — The Peninsula College soccer men got a hat trick from Cesar Gervacio as he took over the Northwest Conference lead in goals scored in a 3-1 win over Skagit Valley that kept the Pirates’ hopes of a North Division title alive.
The Peninsula women, who have already clinched a North Division title, also beat Skagit Valley by an identical 3-1 score in a match that was surprisingly close.
The Pirate men remained undefeated in league at 9-0-4 as both Peninsula and Whatcom (11-0-2) have run away with the North Division in what has become a heated rivalry this season.
Whatcom with two more wins than Peninsula, has 35 points to Peninsula’s 31 (No. 1 and No. 2 in points in the entire NWAC) setting up a huge rubber match at Sigmar Field on Wednesday between the two powerhouses. Peninsula, which is already in the postseason, still has a shot at a North Division title, but they need to beat Whatcom (the teams have tied twice this year) Wednesday to have a chance.
Gervacio’s hat trick gives him 18 goals on the season and 41 points. His goals were assisted by Juan Carrillo-Perez, Joey Hollimon and Adrian Benitez. Carrillo-Perez’s assist gives him 30 points on the season, tied for fourth in the NWAC and Benitez’s assist gives him the second-most in the NWAC with nine.
Darius Ochoa picked up the win for the Pirates, making five saves on six shots.
Peninsula’s (9-0-4, 11-1-4) game with Whatcom begins at 4 p.m. Whatcom has not lost a match all season. If Peninsula can beat the Orcas, they would need Whatcom to lose or tie with Shoreline on Saturday and Peninsula would have to beat Edmonds Saturday to take the North crown and likely the No. 1 seed in the NWAC playoffs.
Women’s Soccer
Peninsula 3, Skagit Valley 1
MOUNT VERNON — The women remained perfect on the season with their closes North Division win of the year, beating Skagit Valley 3-1.
The margin was just 2-1 after Skagit scored a goal in the 52nd minute. But the Pirates didn’t allow another Skagit shot the rest of the way and got an unassisted insurance goal from Sarah Reiber in the 75th minute.
In fact, Reiber had a hand in all three goals, getting assists on two first-half goals by Pi’llani Chaves and Yasmin Escobar-Moreno.
Despite the relatively close score, the Pirates have still outscored their North opponents 103-3 in 16 matches and have outscored all their opponents 119-7. They are ranked No. 1 in the NWAC and No. 8 nationally among community colleges.
Peninsula (13-0-0, 16-0-0) next plays at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Sigmar Field against Whatcom.
