SEATTLE — The Peninsula College men’s soccer team, which last played less than three months ago, got on the pitch for the first time this season Sunday against a Pac-12 powerhouse in the University of Washington.
The match was an informal scrimmage for both clubs.
Peninsula College in past years played scrimmages against the University of Victoria and other Canadian schools on Vancouver Island. However, with no Coho sailings yet and a complicated COVID-19 situation on the border, Peninsula scheduled scrimmages against Washington and Western Washington.
Men’s coach Jake Hughes thought his team, still technically the defending NWAC champion from 2019, looked good going up against the ninth-ranked Division 1A team in the nation.
“We returned almost everyone from the spring. The scrimmage was everything we expected going up against a top 10 Division 1A team,” Hughes said. “It was a great experience for everyone. Playing Washington was a really great opportunity for us. They’re really good.”
Hughes said his players were professional and humble going up against an NCAA power.
The Peninsula men next play at 3 p.m. Thursday at Western Washington, a Division II NCAA team, for a second scrimmage that doesn’t count on the team’s record. The women play their first scrimmage at 6 p.m. versus Western Washington.
The men and women begin their official preconference seasons Aug. 25 at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila. The women play Chemeteka, an NWAC school out of Oregon, while the men play Lane Community College, also out of Oregon.
