PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles girls soccer team is picking the best time of the year to go on a hot streak.
Heading into the postseason, which begins next week, the Roughriders have won four of their last five games, including Wednesday night’s against North Mason 3-1 in the rain at Civic Field.
“We were on the verge of getting knocked out of playoff consideration, and I challenged the girls to view every game as a playoff game” Port Angeles coach Scott Moseley said.
“They responded with five really solid games that set them up to finish fourth in the Olympic League.”
Port Angeles (6-6, 10-6) travels to Silverdale for a loser-out sub-district game against Orting of the South Puget Sound League next Tuesday at 5 p.m.
North Mason had already clinched third place prior to Wednesday’s game, but it beat the Riders 2-0 in Belfair earlier in the season and Port Angeles was looking for payback.
The Riders tallied an early goal on Taylar Clark’s long-range shot over the goalkeeper’s head.
Port Angeles’ offense was on attack throughout the match, but the Riders struggled to finish their shots.
They outshot North Mason 29-9 in the game while forcing the Bulldogs’ keeper into making 10 saves.
“We settled for some long shots, then started to overpass — we just weren’t clicking on the final shot,” Moseley said.
Similar to how their season has played out, the Riders waited until late to pick up the pace Wednesday, getting another goal by Clark, her eighth of the year, in the 72nd minute to take a 2-0 lead.
“Cheyenne Wheeler brought the ball up from our defensive line and kept going and going. She played a beautiful ball in to Taylar, who shot just inside the post,” Moseley said.
Two minutes later, Sierra Robinson notched her sixth goal of the season, taking a Maddie Boe pass and using her speed to blow past a defender and then smartly slotting the ball into the net.
North Mason scored a late goal to avoid the shutout.
Orting (6-7, 8-7) finished fifth in the South Puget Sound League.
The winner of Tuesday’s game will face Fife (12-2-0, 11-3-1) in a loser-out game at Bonney Lake High School next Thursday.
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Compiled using coaches’ reports.
