PORT ANGELES — The nationally ranked Peninsula College Pirates continue to dominate the defensive side of the soccer pitch, earning shutouts over Olympic at Wally Sigmar Field.
The Pirate women recorded their Northwest Athletic Conference-leading 13th shutout with a 5-0 win over the Olympic Rangers, while the men followed with their fourth shutout of 2014 with a 3-0 nod over the Bremerton club.
The Peninsula women’s team’s win leaves them atop the West Region with an 11-1 record (13-1 overall). They are ranked No. 7 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s latest Division I junior college poll and No. 1 in the NWAC Alaska Airlines Poll.
The Pirate men also lead the West Region with an 8-0 record (10-0 overall). The men are ranked No. 9 in the latest NSCAA poll and also hold the No. 1 ranking in the NWAC Poll.
Next up for the Peninsula teams is a trip to Tacoma for a Saturday doubleheader. The Pirate men then return home for a 2:15 p.m. make-up match against Bellevue on Tuesday.
Women’s Game
Peninsula 5, Olympic 0
In a game that featured two former Port Angeles Roughriders on opposing sides, the Pirates dominated the visitors from the opening kickoff, but were slow to take control of the scoreboard.
Despite having the ball at the Rangers’ end of the field for most of the match, it wasn’t until the 29th minute that Peninsula scored when Larkyn Nelson scored from a shot in traffic in the middle of the box.
That 1-0 score stood through halftime, as the Olympic (4-7-1, 7-7-1) defense kept the Pirates out of their net until Paxton Rodocker blasted one from 25 yards out, beyond the reach of Ranger goalkeeper Cassady Orstad, five minutes into the second period.
Rodocker, a Port Angeles High School graduate, was facing her former high school teammate Shayla Northern, who is a sophomore for the Rangers.
Rodocker and Northern, both sophomores, are two of four ex-Riders playing NWAC women’s soccer, along with Brittany McBride, a freshman at Walla Walla, and Kaitlin Boston, a freshman at Shoreline.
The Peninsula women then added goals from Lexi Krieger, Brittney Yoshimura and Paige Mahuka to put the match out of reach. Assists came from Krieger with two and Katelyn Raatz and Taylor Berg with one each.
Emily Flinn had a very quiet day in goal, earning her fourth shutout with two saves.
Men’s Game
Peninsula 3, Olympic 0
The men’s match was a tale of two halves. The Rangers (0-8-1, 2-9-2) outplayed the Pirates at times throughout the first half, but Peninsula got going after halftime to remain unbeaten in 2014.
Eddie Benito took a through pass from Hugo Marques, beat Olympic goalkeeper Robin Potts to a high hop, headed it over Potts and then booted it into an empty net for a 1-0 Pirates lead 20 minutes into the match.
Benito nearly scored again on a similar play, but this time Olympic stopped the goal.
At the other end, Peninsula’s Oscar Torres made his college debut at the goalkeeper position Wednesday and made a spectacular first-half save on a ball heading for the left corner of the net to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard.
Peninsula came out in the second half playing like the defending champions they are, adding two insurance goals to put it out of reach.
Chris Chertude scored the first goal and Kassio Monteiro hit the second, his strike assisted by Benito.
Torres was active against a strong Rangers front line, but earned the shutout for the Pirates.
