MOUNT VERNON — The Peninsula College women just keep on rolling with a win while the men got a huge gift from Everett after winning a chippy game against Skagit Valley.
The North Division champion women beat Skagit Valley 3-1 on Saturday. The men then beat the Cardinals 4-1 in a match that had 10 yellow cards. Afterward, the men learned that Everett upset Whatcom 2-1 in the first regular-season match Whatcom had lost since 2016.
That means after chasing Whatcom all season long, the Pirates are now in first place in the North Division, with a match against Whatcom on Wednesday in Bellingham. The Pirates and Orcas have tied in two previous games this year and in fact have tied four times in the past two seasons.
While the Pirates would certainly love to beat the Orcas, they don’t have to win this match now to win the North Division. Another tie with the Orcas would almost assuredly result in a championship for the Pirates with one match remaining against Edmonds.
The Pirates got two goals from Mason Haubrich and goals from Collyn Burkett, Paul Cuevas and Hide Inoue. Jose Serna picked up two assists and Jonathan Bicknell one assist.
After a goal from the Cardinals in the 69th minute made it 2-1 for Peninsula, the Pirates were able to put the match out of reach with an Inoue goal in the 76th minute, then a Haubrich goal in the 90th minute.
There were 10 yellow cards in the match, four against Peninsula and six against Skagit, with two of those yellow cards against the Cardinals “team yellows.” Skagit got the last five yellows, four in the second half.
With the win, Peninsula is now 10-1-2 in league for 32 points (11-3-2 overall), while Whatcom is 9-1-3 for 30 points.
Women’s Soccer
Peninsula got a goal from Samantha Oliveria just 17 seconds into its match with Skagit Valley and a second goal just 1:13 into the match from Halle Watson as the Pirates hung on the rest of the way for a 3-1 win.
The Cardinals scored 16 minutes into the match to make it close at 2-1, but a Pirates’ goal 40 seconds into the second half by Halle Nottage gave Peninsula a two-goal cushion the Pirates would ride to the end of the match.
Emilee Greve also had an assist in the match and goalkeepers Chloe Keenan-Merlo and Andrea Kenagy combined for six saves to preserve the win.
Peninsula (12-0-1 37 points, 14-2-1 overall), will try to remain unbeaten in the North Division with a road match Wednesday against a pretty good Whatcom (8-4-1, 9-6-1) team fighting for a playoff spot. In the last meeting between the Pirates and the Orcas, Peninsula won 2-0.
