PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders girls soccer team did wonders moving the ball around Kingston defenders, leading to an efficient 4-1 win over the Buccaneers that was more lopsided than the score indicated.
The Riders have five or six other golden opportunities and could’ve doubled their score easily with a bit of luck. The lone Kingston goal came halfway through the second half after Port Angeles had taken out several of its starters.
The highlight of this game for the 6-1 Riders was the passing. Port Angeles moved the ball effectively past the Bucs’ defense, leading to a number of wide-open shots.
The Riders’ star scorer Millie Long largely facilitated through much of the first half, looking to set up her teammates. Head coach Scott Moseley said it was hard for him to believe that Long seemed to have a quiet game, but at the end, she had points in every Riders goal.
“By far that was our best passing game of the year. We strung together 10 to 15 passes at times,” Moseley said.
One of the best passing moves of the night came early in the first half as Bailee Larson and Long creatively tic-tac-toed the ball to each other several times halfway up the field around several Kingston defenders. It didn’t lead to a goal, but it certainly set the tone for the night at Wally Sigmar Field.
Larson scored the Riders’ first goal in the seventh minute. Long got the assist, but Larson did much of the work, shaking off a couple of Kingston defenders with some nifty moves with the ball to free herself for a wide-open shot and goal.
After assisting on Larson’s pretty goal, Long then took over on offense for a bit with hard runs up the left wing, using her speed and ball skill to blow past Kingston defenders. She got behind the Buccaneers’ defenders on one run in the 27th minute, forcing the Bucs keeper to come way out of the net for a block. Just a minute later, Long broke free again of the defense with her speed and got wide open, pounding the ball in to make it 2-0.
Long nearly set up another goal on a pass to Lily Sanders, but Sanders’ shot went off the crossbar. In the 36th minute, Long got her second goal off a rebound with the assist going to Sanders. Long nearly picked up a hat trick on a sharp angle shot on the left wing that got past the keeper, but went just wide of the far post by two or three feet.
Anna Petty finished the Roughriders’ scoring. Long had a powerful shot that the Kingston keeper stopped but couldn’t control. Anna Petty pounced on the rebound to score. The Buccaneers picked up a goal on a breakaway in the 70th minute.
In addition to the scorers, Moseley thought that freshman Izzy Felton had a good game. “Izzy played really well in the midfield and created some opportunities for us,” he said.
“We’re excited to finally be back,” Felton said. She said it felt different to be playing varsity soccer in the spring at Peninsula College, but she just enjoyed being back playing.
“I love my coach and love the girls I play with,” she said.
The Riders played Tuesday night against a surging East Jefferson (3-3) team that has won three out of its last four and then finish their home season at 6 p.m. Thursday against Olympic (3-3-1), the only team to knock off the Riders so far this year, so it will be a chance for revenge.
