PORT ANGELES — The sun went down and the Sequim Wolves came out to play. Sequim earned a come-from-behind 4-2 district playoff win over Washington on Tuesday night at Peninsula College to secure a return trip to the Class 2A boys soccer state tournament and a spot in the district championship game.
Sequim (15-0-2) will face Fife (16-1-3) in the West Central District 3 title game at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“We didn’t know what to expect except it would be something new coming out of the South Puget Sound League,” Wolves head coach Dave Brasher said of facing the Patriots. “We are kind of in our Olympic League bubble and we knew the league wasn’t that strong. We had a couple challenges, mainly PA, but we knew it was going to be a better team and we would have to rise to the occasion. And it took us a while.”
Sequim trailed twice in the first half, going down 1-0 in the 16th and 2-1 in the 36th, but found the answers it needed to make it back to state.
“They are a classic counterrattacking team,” Brasher said of Washington. “They get it, they hit it deep and have two quick guys to chase it down.”
One of those answers was patience. The Wolves lost the opening coin toss to determine which side of the field they would defend in the first half and ended up guarding the east goal, facing directly into the setting sun for the game’s first 40 minutes.
“We had been up here practicing for two nights, we kind of knew the timing and we wanted to get the opposite side of the field,” Brasher said of avoiding the sun’s glare. “And Sean [Weber] when he came up to take the toss, he said, ‘This is the most important thing we have to do all night’ and we lost the toss.”
Weber more than made up for it later, to be fair.
“When we went down it hyped us up even more to press Washington,” the senior co-captain said. “[Washington] played pretty good, they were effective with their attacks and we responded nicely. We ended up with the lead at halftime even though we started down and went down again. That was really good for the team’s composure.”
Ryan Tolberd tied the game at 1-all when he took a sweet left-to-right cross from Reid Parker and headed the ball which was saved by the Patriots’ goalkeeper. Tolberd kept at it and sent home the rebound in the 21st minute.
Weber brought Sequim level once again in the 38th minute scoring on what teammate Mike McAleer called “a left-footed screamer” from about 25 yards.
“I saw the ball come out of the air, I took it on my chest and I had a little space,” Weber said. “The guy I had [defending me] committed a little bit, so I took my chance and cut in. I saw him on the ground and thought ‘here goes nothing.’ I kind of curled it with my left foot into the upper 90. And that was probably the best high school goal I’ve ever scored.”
And it wasn’t even with Weber’s dominant foot.
“Yeah, that was my weak foot,” Weber said.
McAleer assisted on Tolberd’s go-ahead goal seconds before the halftime whistle.
“That goal, I said chip, Mike heard it and that was a perfect ball,” Tolberd said. “I just saw out of my peripheral [vision] the goalie coming up and I got him and hit it over him.”
Brasher was impressed with Tolberd’s performance.
“Ryan Tolberd kind of broke out tonight, he was a threat all over the place,” Brasher said.
“We played Washington last year, so they knew Ryan. “They were marking him and watching him. The fact that Ryan could play through while being man marked shows he can turn it on when need be.”
Brasher said Sequim outshot Washington 9-4 in the first half and the Wolves also controlled possession, so going into the half with the lead felt deserved.
“Real big. Going down 2-1 and then getting two back right away?” Brasher said. “It would have been nice to have tied it up which we did and then we got that extra one.”
Sequim controlled the second half but couldn’t find the insurance score until late despite numerous opportunities. Tolberd hit the post early in the second half, Kristian Mingoy had a shot kick-saved away by a Washington defender and the Wolves couldn’t capitalize on three consecutive corner kicks midway through the half.
The Patriots last chance to tie it up came when Washington nearly caught Sequim goalkeeper Navy Thomas-Brenske out of position on a breakaway. Thomas-Brenske came out to challenge and was able to reach back and pluck the shot out of the air to keep the Wolves on top.
Sequim found the insurance goal a minute later when Mathys Tanche zoomed down the field and scored easily on a breakaway.
“They knew Ryan but they didn’t know Mathys,” Brasher said of the Belgian exchange student and the team’s leading goal scorer.
Brasher also had praise for McAleer in the midfield and Eli Gish at left back.
“It was a good opener for us, Washington,” Brasher said. “It’s kind of what we are going to see [in the postseason], better strikers, better attack, different attack.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Sequim’s Mathys Tanche, right, squeezes past Washington’s Iaen Ellis in the first half of Tuesday’s playoff game against Washington.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Chris Morgan of Sequim, right, slips past the defense of Washington’s Ariano Taitague Chavez on Tuesday at Peninsula College in Port Angeles.
