PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women’s soccer team is headed back to the NWAC Final Four to defend its conference championship, while the men’s two-year run as NWAC champion came to an end Saturday afternoon at Wally Sigmar Field.
The women beat 2023 champion Columbia Basin College 2-0 to move on to the NWAC semifinals, while the men were beaten 1-0 by Columbia Basin in a hard-fought, close battle either team could have won.
Both games were physical with a total of 10 yellow cards and a red card on Columbia Basin’s women’s goalkeeper Sam Groesbeck.
The women got their first goal in the 25th minute off a good free kick that forced a diving save from the Hawks’ goalkeeper. The Pirates got two or three point-blank shots off in a mad scramble in front of the net and finally Emma Crystal got a rebound and put the ball in.
Columbia Basin nearly tied the game at the end of the first half when an open shot in front of the goal went up and over the crossbar. That might have been the Hawks’ best chance to score against Peninsula’s stout defense.
Peninsula College’s Clemens Bordewieck heads a ball against Columbia Basin’s David Ochoa (11). (Jay Cline/Peninsula College)
The Pirates got their second goal in the 57th minute when Cailey Ridgeway made a perfect cross from the right wing that found Shiori Shintaku open on the left side of the goal for an open shot and score.
From that point on, the Pirates shut down the Hawks to hold on for the win. Columbia Basin did have a golden opportunity in the 78th minute when the Hawks hit a perfect-looking header off a free kick. Peninsula goalkeeper Alexandra Naill earned her shutout with a diving save to keep the ball out.
Peninsula likely would have scored a third goal in stoppage time when the entire Columbia Basin team was in the offensive end and the goalkeeper Groesbeck had moved way out of goal halfway to the center-line. A long pass got behind Groesbeck and she was forced to tackle a Peninsula attacker who pounced on the loose ball and appeared to be ready to score an easy goal. She was red-carded out of the game for the play but the score remained 2-0 with Columbia Basin down one.
Peninsula has had a lot of good teams go to the final four but none of the previous teams have some of the eye-popping stats of this team. The Pirates have outscored their opponents 79-1 this season. They have 12 straight shutouts and a scoreless streak of 1,120 minutes. The Pirates gave up their lone goal way back on Sept. 10.
Coach Kanyon Anderson has had some incredible defensive teams in the past. He said he doesn’t like to talk a lot about the scoreless streak but he thinks it shows a testament that the Pirates never take any plays off. He also said Naill is an excellent goalkeeper, even if she doesn’t always get to show it because teams have such a hard time cracking Peninsula’s defense.
“She makes fantastic great saves every day in practice,” he said.
Anderson likes the Pirates’ odds of repeating though he pointed out that all four teams in the final four are good. Spokane is 11-1-1 and has allowed five goals. Tacoma is 16-1-3 and has allowed seven goals and Highline is 14-1-3 and had allowed nine goals.
“That’s three losses among the four teams in the finals,” he said. The Pirates will play Highline, a team they are used to playing in the postseason, at 4 p.m. Friday at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. Anderson said Highline, whom the Pirates have played at the finals three times has a new coach and will not be the same Highline team Peninsula has faced in the past.
Men’s game
The men’s game was tight throughout with both teams getting golden opportunities to score. Columbia Basin came in to the match with an outstanding record of 15-1-1.
Columbia Basin nearly got a goal in the 30th minute when a lucky bounce sprang a Hawks’ forward David Ochoa all alone behind Peninsula’s defense. Ochoa made a good hard shot that banged off the left post and stayed out.
The Pirates’ best chance to score came in the 50th minute when Angel Sandoval got of a hard, blistering shot from just inside the box that went wide of the right post by a foot or two.
Columbia Basin finally broke through with a goal in the 61st minute off a throw in. The ball was headed off the throw to another attacker who knocked the ball in.
After that goal, an energized Columbia Basin team put on a ton of pressure over the next few minutes with four straight corner kicks, one of which forced defender Jeremie Kuelo to make a stop in front of a wide open goal mouth.
Peninsula’s best chance for an equalizer came in the 77th minute on a high header by Jeremy Obah but Columbia Basin goalkeeper Caleb Coronel was able to leap high to corral it. Peninsula’s Edwin Diaz had a chance in the 87th minute with a good hard shot but Coronel made a diving save to keep the Pirates off the board.
Peninsula ends its season 10-1-3.
