TACOMA — The Sequim soccer girls are within one victory of qualifying for the 2A state tournament two years in a row after a 4-1 win over Lindbergh on Saturday in their West Central District III 2A Tournament opener.
The Wolves got two goals from Hope Glasser and goals from Abby Schroeder and Rileigh Van Dyken.
“It was a really solid game. They were out-possessing everybody. They were patient with their buidlup,” said coach Derek Vandervelde.
Sequim’s deep run in the postseason last year in which the Wolves won the district tournament and went on to the 2A state tournament, helps this year’s team, Vandervelde said.
“For sure. They understand the pressure. They’ve been here before, which is good,” he said.
Beyond the goal scorers, Vandervelde said the entire team played well and it was tough to single out individual players. He said Natalya James did a good job staying calm and possessing the ball and Hannah Wagner had a solid game.
“Abby had an exceptional game. It was a good, strong, team win,” Vandervelde said.
Glasser got one of her goals on a penalty kick. She got her second goal by splitting a pair of Lindbergh defenders and getting off a shot.
Sequim (7-5-0, 10-5-1) has a second-round game at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Orting (8-2-3 SPSL East, 11-3-4 overall). If the Wolves can win that game, they are in the state tournament. If Sequim loses, they must win two games in the consolation round Thursday and Saturday to qualify for state.
If Sequim can win Tuesday and Port Angeles can win its playoff game Tuesday against Steilacoom, then the Roughriders and Wolves will play each other, possibly at Peninsula College on Saturday, for a third time this season. That game will be for seeding and pride as both teams would have already qualified for state.
Peninsula College is hosting a playoff doubleheader on Saturday, which means if a high school game is added, it would be a soccer triple-header at Wally Sigmar Field.
Boys Tennis Whitman/Hall to state
BREMERTON — The Port Angeles duo of Milo Whitman and Wyatt Hall won three matches at the West Central District III tennis tournament and made it to the district championship match, losing to a team from North Kitsap.
Whitman and Hall qualified for state by winning three district matches, not dropping a set in any of their victories. They beat a White River duo 6-1, 6-1, a team from Franklin Pierce 6-0, 6-1 and a Fife team 6-2, 6-3.
They lost in the championship match 6-2, 6-3.
“Mile and Wyatt played really well. They beat three teams from the [South Puget Sound League], including the No. 1 seed in straight sets … and that team was previously undefeated,” said coach Brian Gunderson.
“Qualifying for state as the No. 2 seed out of our district is quite the accomplishment and I couldn’t be prouder of both of them,” Gunderson said.
The state 2A tennis tournament isn’t until May, so Whitman and Hall have several months to wait to play at state. They both are also baseball stars for the Port Angeles Roughriders baseball team, which usually qualifies for postseason.
Port Angeles’ Reef Gelder also qualified for district with the final singles’ slot from the Olympic League and according to Gunderson threw “quite a scare” into the No. 5 seed, Jimmy Longino of Steilacoom. Gunderson said Gelder used consistent ground strokes and timely aggression to take the match to three sets before Longino was finally able to put him away. Reef ended up going down 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 to Longino. He also lost to Chris Schuchart of North Kitsap 6-1, 7-5.
“I thought Reef had an excellent tournament. He played with poise, showed that he belonged in this environment, and I’m excited about what the future holds for him,” Gunderson said.
