PORT ANGELES — The good news is the Peninsula College women’s and men’s soccer remained unbeaten in NWAACC play.
Unfortunately, the visiting Olympic Rangers packed it in on defense and forced a scoreless tie in the men’s game, handing the Pirates their first blemish of the season against NWAACC competition at Wally Sigmar Field.
Meanwhile, the NWAACC’s second-ranked Pirate women remain the only unbeaten and untied team against NWAACC opponents, dropping Olympic 2-0 on Wednesday and benefiting from Spokane’s 2-0 win over No. 1-ranked and previously unbeaten Walla Walla.
The Peninsula men, ranked seventh in the nation and No. 1 in the NWAACC were the clear favorites against the West Division’s fourth-place Rangers, so Olympic coach Randy Lund decided to try to earn a point on the road by packing in 10 players in front of the Ranger goal.
It worked.
The Pirates outshot their guests 11-4, but Peninsula sophomore Alex Martinez, who leads the nation’s junior colleges in scoring with 21 goals, could get off only four shots through a sea of black jerseys — and none of them managed to find the net.
Olympic keeper Jordan Hadden came up with nine saves to record the shutout. Peninsula’s Angel Guerra had four saves, also notching a shutout, his NWAACC-leading sixth of the season.
The intensity continued to mount throughout the final 15 minutes as the Pirates became more and more desperate to score.
At one point, Peninsula got the ball past Hadden and into the Ranger net, but the goal was waved off due to a foul.
Eventually, the center official sounded his whistle and the Pirates had to settle for a 0-0 tie, while the Rangers celebrated.
The Pirates, at 7-0-1 in conference play and 13-0-2 overall, remained the only NWAACC team without a loss to an NWAACC opponent. They travel to the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila on Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff against third-place Bellevue (4-3-0, 5-5-0).
Women’s Soccer
Peninsula 2, Olympic 0
PORT ANGELES — On hand for the match between Peninsula and Olympic (4-3-2, 4-3-4) were many Port Angeles High School soccer players, who were there to watch 2012 graduate Paxton Rodocker, a redshirt freshmen for the Pirates, playing against 2013 graduate Shayla Northern, who plays for the Rangers.
The two former Roughriders contributed to an exciting and hard-fought soccer match.
The Pirates struck first when the NWAACC’s second leading scorer, Bri Afoa, was fouled in the box and then converted the penalty kick for her 14th goal of the season, just 12 minutes into the match.
That score stood until the 62nd minute when Annie Armstrong scored an insurance goal off a Bronte Fitzsimmons corner kick.
The Pirates outshot the Rangers 23-3, but Olympic keeper Brittney Rice made 11 saves to keep the game close.
Peninsula sophomore keeper Laura Morgan was considerably less busy, finishing with three saves and recording the shutout.
The Pirates (9-0-0, 10-2-0), ranked 14th among the nation’s junior colleges, travel to the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila to take on the Bellevue Bulldogs (5-2-2, 6-3-2) on Saturday.
