PORT ANGELES — After a few years of close wins and close losses, the Port Angeles girls soccer team finally routed rival Sequim 5-1.
“It was pretty big. We’ve tied and lost against them for the last couple years so it feels good to win again,” Port Angeles’ Taylar Clark said.
Clark and Maddie Boe each scored two goals for the Roughriders and Emma Smith had the other Thursday night at Civic Field.
Port Angeles earns the bragging rights, at least until the next showdown Oct. 16, but Riders coach Scott Moseley said the match wasn’t as easy as the final score might indicate.
“I did tell my assistant coaches that this is the closest 5-1 game that I think I’ve coached,” he said.
“It just felt like it was on the edge, but part of that is just the rivalry, where you don’t want to give up anything.”
After a few chances early in the first half that were stopped either by Sequim goalkeeper Bianca Espinoza or offside calls, Boe finally found the goal on a long kick from the left-hand side that was set up by Allie Burwell.
Sequim tied the game at 1-1 when Abigail Hanstead capitalized on an assist from Gretchen Happe later in the first half.
It was the lone goal in a noble effort by the Wolves, who were without six or seven varsity players and were forced to give some JV players their first varsity experience.
“Considering the circumstances, I think we did OK,” Sequim coach Victor Lancheros said.
“We only had one sub and we had to play some JV players who had never played varsity before. It’s really tough.
“But they did a good job. They didn’t give up, they fought until the end of it. Better things are to come.”
Port Angeles’ best scoring opportunities in the early going were from passes over the defense to a streaking Boe, but Moseley decided to shift Boe back in the offensive attack.
“We made some minor moves in terms of where we were putting people,” Moseley said.
“[Boe] had been moved from the forward back to a midfield. She’s such a good passer that it helps for her to be there and then she can push forward.”
It worked. The Riders scored four second-half goals and spent most of the half on the offensive end of the field.
The first goal of the half was set up by Boe. She passed to Smith, who kicked from long range and, seemingly to the surprise of everyone, the ball bounced through a crowd of teammates and defenders and into the goal.
“That was one of those where there was a bunch of bodies in the mix and she hit it hard and it skipped through everybody,” Moseley said.
Only a few minutes later, Clark was taken down in the penalty box and scored on the resulting penalty kick.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking, but I just kind of try to zone it out and take it,” Clark said of the penalty kick.
With those goals, the Riders had changed the game, turning a 1-1 rivalry deadlock at halftime into a 3-1 advantage.
“I think that our pace and our speed started to wear Sequim down and we were able to convert,” Moseley said.
“And once you get a couple goals it can take the life out of a team. So once we scored the second goal by Emma Smith and the penalty kick, it was hard for them to come back.”
Port Angeles added to the lead when Cami Raber perfectly placed pass set up Clark for a header that she flicked into the goal.
“I just kind of went up and was like, ‘Well, I guess I’ll try,’ and it went in,” Clark said.
Boe finished off the scoring in the final two minutes with a goal from the top of the penalty box to finish the scoring and make it 5-1.
“I think we all just realized we really had to work hard,” Boe said of Port Angeles’ second half outburst.
“Both teams wanted it; I think we just wanted it more, so we had to work hard there.”
Moseley was impressed with how the Riders improved over the 80 minutes of Thursday’s match after starting “too tense and nervous.”
“We did some really nice things passing, we had some really nice shots,” he said.
“The last goal by Maddie, Taylar Clark’s little flick header . . . I mean, those are things that I haven’t seen from a team in a number of years.
“We had some moments of some really quality soccer.”
The win improves Port Angeles to 3-1 and dropped Sequim to 2-3, but Moseley said it’s too early to say the outcome establishes where either team stands in the Olympic League.
“It’s nice to win and gain confidence, but it’s such a crazy league sometimes that you don’t quite know until you’ve gone through everybody,” he said.
“It gives them [the players] a lot of confidence.”
The Riders play at Bremerton (1-3) on Tuesday, while the Wolves host North Mason (1-2) the same night.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
