PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles missed out on a number of scoring chances — and an opportunity to move up in the Olympic League 2A Division girls soccer standings — in a 3-0 loss to North Kitsap at Civic Field on Tuesday.
The Roughriders’ (7-3-0, 10-4-0, 21 points) remained in third place with the defeat, now four points behind second-place North Kitsap (8-2-0, 9-4-1) and five behind league-leading Olympic (9-1-0, 12-2-0, 26 points).
“We had three defensive mistakes that they capitalized [on], we had five shots that could have gone in and [North Kitsap] had very good defensive play,” Port Angeles coach Scott Moseley said.
“Their keeper [Sophia Pixton] had an outstanding game. You total it all up, and we always tell them you win as a team and lose as a team and our offense wasn’t able to capitalize and our defense had some lapses, so that hurt.”
The Riders missed out on grabbing a lead in the early going.
Freshman Bailee Larson pounced on a loose ball after Pixton was unable to gather Delaney Wenzl’s well-placed free kick in the fifth minute. But Larson’s short shot hit the near post and Pixton pounced on the rebound.
Minutes later Larson drew Pixton away from goal and uncorked a left-to-right kick and what looked to be a sure goal to the far post. The shot beat Pixton — but not Vikings’ defender Audrey Zinn. Zinn saved the shot with an upraised foot, keeping Port Angeles scoreless.
“I thought we started out really well, we had good chances, and we had a couple of breaks that went against us,” Moseley said.
North Kitsap’s Isla Lester notched the first of her two goals two minutes after Zinn’s denial, scoring on a short shot in the center of the goal box when the Riders’ defense allowed the Vikings to set up shop near goal for far too much time.
Port Angeles’ leading scorer Millie Long had her best scoring chance of the night in the 33rd minute.
Long dribbled past her game-long shadow, North Kitsap’s Abigail Zinn, muscling past the defender to get a left-to-right shot off from in close. Pixton couldn’t gather the shot at first, and Long’s attempt to dislodge the ball were unsuccessful.
Long had another chance just after halftime when Kyrsten McGuffey played a ball through to an on-rushing Long that drew Pixton off line. But Long shot from a difficult angle and the shot missed wide.
Lester added her second goal in the 60th minute and Maiya Greene put in the Vikings’ insurance score on a slow roller in the 73rd minute.
“They are obviously a pretty decent team and ultimately you have to capitalize on your chances and we didn’t,” Moseley said.
“You have to play much better soccer if you want to have success against these kind of teams.”
Port Angeles previously secured a top-three finish and a sixth consecutive trip to the district playoffs. This defeat doesn’t completely doom the Riders’ shot at improving their playoff seed, but it dimmed those chances severely.
“If we win out we can certainly challenge for second still, we just need a little help from somebody else,” Moseley said. “Hopefully Olympic can take care of North and we can beat Olympic.”
The Riders host Bremerton (4-7-0, 6-7-1) today in their final home match of the season.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
