PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women rode a stout defense and a beautiful long-range goal by big-legged Taylor Graham to beat North Idaho 1-0 under the lights at Sigmar Field to win their NWAC quarterfinal, qualifying for their eighth straight trip to the NWAC Final Four.
And for the fourth straight year, who is in the Pirates’ way? Their rival, Highline College, who the Pirates will play Friday at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila.
“It’s just a collision course every year,” coach Kanyon Anderson said of the Highline game.
Peninsula has had to rely on its defense this year a bit more as this year’s edition is not quite as high-powered offensively as some recent teams (though the Pirates did score 12 and 13 goals in a three games this year). The Pirates’ defense held North Idaho to seven shots, one corner kick and goalie Andrea Kenagy only had to make four saves, though a couple of her saves in the first half were very good.
This was the first-ever match played entirely under the new lights at Sigmar. A men’s game earlier in the week ended under the lights in the twilight. It was also played in a moderate to heavy rainfall pretty much the entire match.
The one goal came on a huge boot from Graham from 35 yards out in the 41st minute. She hooked the ball over the outstretched arms of Cardinals goalkeeper Kaysha Bailey and just under the crossbar.
“I saw the opportunity to win the game and I took it,” Graham said.
“It was a brilliant individual goal,” Anderson said. “That was all her.”
That one goal stood up. The Pirates had a few chances in the second half to break the match open. A long free kick by Samantha Guzman nearly got over Bailey’s arms, but the Cardinals’ keeper was able to barely tap the ball over the crossbar. A header by Guzman on a corner kick just missed. Shantel Torres-Benito had a wide-open shot right in front of the net, but just missed the ball.
However, those missed chances didn’t hurt the Pirates as they clamped down on defense and allowed just one second-half shot on goal by North Idaho.
“This is so amazing, I hope we can win it this time,” said Graham.
“This is exciting, I don’t know how to describe it,” said Emilee Greve. “If we focus as much as we did this past week, I think we can take care of business.”
The Pirates had a number of one- and two-goal matches this year — eight to be exact, seven of which the Pirates won — and Anderson thinks that helps the team prepare for the tight Final Four.
“We had so few close games last year, it was difficult to prepare. They seem pretty comfortable with it this year,” Anderson said.
Anderson said the team is fulfilling its goal of putting itself in a position again to win an NWAC title. He said once everyone gets into the Final Four, anything can happen.
Peninsula and Highline are remarkably similar statistically. The Pirates scored 88 goals this season and have given up 11. Meanwhile, Highline has scored 99 goals and allowed 11. The Pirates were 14-0-1 (17-2-1 overall) in league play, while the Thunderbirds were 13-0-1 (16-1-1 overall).
Highline beat Peninsula 1-0 in the NWAC championship last year, while the Pirates beat the Thunderbirds 1-0 in the 2016 NWAC championship. Highline also beat Peninsula 2-1 in the NWAC semifinal in 2015. The two teams played in the first game of the season in early September, with Highline winning 4-2.
