TUKWILA — Grace Johnson curled in a left-to-right goal in the 89th minute to lift the Peninsula College women’s soccer team to a 2-1 semifinal win over Columbia Basin that sends the Pirates to their 11th NWAC Championship game appearance.
Peninsula (16-0-2) will face Clark (13-0-0), 2-1 winners over Highline in the other semifinal, for the title at 4:30 p.m. today.
That game will be live streamed via pay-per-view at nwacsportsnetwork.com.
Johnson, a Nordland and Chimacum High School product, worked the ball up field crisply with forward Malia Miller and sent in a probing ball beyond the grasp of Basin goalkeeper RiaJo Schwartz.
Nordland’s Grace Johnson with the go-ahead goal. PC up 2-1 late, but lots of stoppage time left. pic.twitter.com/aQVEPZqkAW
— Michael Carman (@MikeCarmanPDN) November 13, 2021
“I went blank for a second, I thought I had to put the ball in the box because we can go to the finals and this is what we worked so hard for,” Johnson said of the go-ahead kick that found the far portion of the net.
“This is what I tell the players, if you kick it and it goes in, that’s a goal if anybody asks,” head coach Kanyon Anderson said.
“What you want to do in that situation is play a ball that asks difficult questions for the defense and Grace’s play did that.”
Peninsula completed the comeback only after yielding its first goal since September 23 in the 27th minute on a chaotic play resulting from a corner kick.
“We were unorganized on that corner,” Anderson said.
“It was a dream start for them, one chance and one goal, and then they are in a situation where they can maintain that lead, and they played defensively to protect the lead.”
The Pirates weathered the early Columbia Basin goal defensively and produced a number of corner kick chances that didn’t amount to much offensively in the first half.
The halftime message was relatively straightforward, Anderson said.
“We have to be able to score a goal in a semifinal if we want to win a championship,” Anderson said. “If you can’t score in a semifinal, you probably don’t deserve to play for a championship. So we talked about thinking about getting one, not two goals, then the game will change.”
With the Hawks keeping four defenders packed tightly in formation to thwart Peninsula striker Millie Long, another Port Angeles product, Kyrsten McGuffey, sparked the Pirates early in the second half.
Chiaki Takase linked with McGuffey on a slick pass upfield with McGuffey sent to the ground inside the penalty box seconds later.
Takase took the ensuing penalty kick in place of McGuffey, but her attempt to the left was right at Schwartz in the 51st minute.
“I called off Kyrsten to have Chiaki take the PK because she has been so strong on those all season,” Anderson said. “So that was my fault.”
In the 58th, McGuffey earned a free kick about 25 yards out from goal and Takase sent in a ball to a number of hard-charging Pirates slanting in from left to right in front of goal. McGuffey was there to poke the ball in for the tying goal.
“Good instincts by both of them,” Anderson said. “That’s two of our most intuitive players connecting, and the two who hooked up on the PK earlier, so they bailed me out.”
Johnson said the Pirates maintained their confidence.
“We knew we were the better side and we got unlucky with the bounce [on Columbia Basin’s goal],” Johnson said. “The PK save was tough, but we had to keep thinking we will get the next one because we deserve it.”
Miller continued to build up her attack with three good chances on goal before she found Johnson for the winning strike late.
“Emotional right now, but really grateful to be in the position that we are,” Johnson said of making a trip to the NWAC final. “We’ve been working for this, some of us for a lot of years. It’s my third year, and we want to go out and write our own story and our own legacy.”
Peninsula College’s Grace Johnson focuses on the ball as she nears the goal during the Pirates’ 2-1 NWAC Semifinal win over Columbia Basin on Friday. Johnson scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal in the 89th minute of the game.
