TACOMA — The Port Angeles girls soccer team opens the district playoffs today against the Highline Pirates at Franklin Pierce High School.
The Roughriders have already notched the most wins by the program in 15 seasons, nine, and the third-most in 28 seasons.
They finished third in the Olympic League and have reached districts for the first time since 2011.
The Riders are happy, but hardly satisfied.
“They’re pretty excited, but also kind of low key,” Port Angeles coach Scott Moseley said.
“They’re not giddy. It’s like they expected to do this.
“They’ve got this job to do to and that’s to keep winning.”
Going into today’s match, the Riders already have scored 10 more goals than last season’s team.
They aren’t the highest scoring team in Moseley’s tenure, but they’ve had more flashy goals than past teams have, whether it be from volleys, headers or other skilled plays.
“They just keep finding ways to put the ball in the back of the net,” Moseley said.
“The coaches have talked about why it is different, and we sort of draw a blank.
“The girls are finding ways to finish and score goals, it makes me look good as a coach.”
Speaking of Moseley’s looks, the Riders’ coach is sporting a new do as of earlier this week.
He made a deal with the players before the season that they could dye his hair if they beat one of the top four teams in the league.
Unified group
That’s another thing Port Angeles accomplished this season, so Moseley’s hair has gone from white to dark brown.
“They, of course, wanted to do candy apple red,” Moseley said, “but I’d still like to go out in public.”
Fancy goal scoring hasn’t been the only area in which the Riders have stepped up this season. They also have lowered their goals-against average.
A veteran back line of seniors Cami Raber, Kate Haworth and Elyse Lovgren has provided stout defense, and when opponents have gotten past that, they then had to contend with senior Zoe Owens, a first-year starter at goalkeeper.
“She has really sure hands, a good punt, long arms, so that really helps with catching the ball,” Moseley said.
“And she can jump, she’s a track athlete.”
Moseley said this also has been a special team off the field, with “a lot of connection between the different classes, not a sense of division.”
“You see the results in where we have all grades participating in scoring,” Moseley said.
“The team concept really comes through.”
Junior Maddie Boe leads the team with seven goals and sophomore Taylar Clark, who transferred over the summer from Kansas, has six.
A big surprise to Moseley is that the freshman have contributed 10 goals — six from Emily Boyd, three from Sierra Robinson and one from Shannon Cosgrove.
And the team has stayed unified when things don’t go its way.
“They’ve been able to play soccer and not worry about the score, about the other team, they just play,” Moseley said.
“Even if things are going bad, they just play.
“There have been many games that we have come back and won or tied the game.
“They never give up, don’t get distracted by the score.”
In Highline, Port Angeles (9-8) is facing a team that has had a similar to its own.
The Pirates also finished third in their league, the Seamount, have close to a .500 record (8-6) and have beaten the teams they should while losing to the better teams.
If the Roughriders can get by Highline, they’ll likely face Franklin Pierce (12-3) on Saturday on the Cardinals’ home field.
To become the first Port Angeles girls soccer team to reach state since 1986, the Riders will need to do something they haven’t done much this season: beat a team above them.
“We’ve been able to beat the teams that we should be beating, the challenge is to beat the teams that maybe have a little bit more skill than us,” Moseley said.
“Then it becomes a cliche: play the whole game and focus the full 80 minutes.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
