PORT ANGELES — Watch out 2A teams, the Port Angeles girls soccer team is heading into postseason as hot as a team can be.
Having to adjust to playing without all-time school scoring leader Millie Long for the first time in four years, the Roughriders got off to a bit of a sluggish start this fall, going 3-3 to start the season.
Since then, the Riders have gone 8-0 with eight straight shutouts. They depended on their stifling defense to win for a while, but now they have outscored their opponents 24-0 over their past four matches, winning all four games by the identical score of 6-0. The Riders’ scoreless streak is at 640-plus minutes, not counting stoppage time.
The last time the Riders allowed a goal was on Oct. 5 to Sequim’s Taryn Johnson.
The Riders rode their winning streak into an 11-3 league record and a co-championship of the Olympic 2A League along with North Kitsap, the team’s third-straight league title. Via tiebreakers, Port Angeles also earned the No. 1 seed in the district playoffs and will host their first playoff game Tuesday at Wally Sigmar Field.
Port Angeles capped off its regular season with a 6-0 win over Bremerton on Thursday.
Coach Scott Moseley singled out the play of Piper Williams, who scored a hat trick.
“Piper had an amazing game,” Moseley said. “She started the scoring early [after] a weaving 50-yard dribble through the Bremerton defense that got us settled down.”
Williams scored a second goal off a pass from Mia Gagnon and picked up her hat trick by flicking a free kick with a header past the Knights’ goalkeeper.
“It felt really good after I scored that first goal and it really fueled the fire inside of me and drove me to score again and again,” Williams said. “But the best part was to be a part of a team that is league champions three times in a row and to be one of the many reasons we accomplished that.”
In the other goals, Catie Brown took a Bailee Larson pass for a 20-yard shot just inside the far post. Izzy Felton also had two goals with assists from Williams and Brown.
To top off a busy night, Williams finished the last 18 minutes goal, giving Riders’ keeper Saylah Commerton her first break all season.
“I challenged them to come out strong, dominate the game and earn the league title,” Moseley said. “Winning three [titles] in a row has never been done before and is a great accomplishment for them. I call them ‘Team Duct Tape’ since we have dealt with so many missed games due to injury or sickness. In spite of that, the team has always rallied and filled in the gaps to keep the winning going.”
Moseley also highlighted the play of the his defense, which has allowed very few shots on goal over the shutout streak.
“It is an incredible scoreless run by them and a great example of total team defense,” he said.
East Jefferson 5, Annie Wright 1
PORT TOWNSEND — After a frustrating tie with Annie Wright earlier in the week, the East Jefferson Rivals bounced back with a 5-1 victory over the Gators to complete their regular season Friday.
The Rivals now head into postseason as the No. 5 seed from the Nisqually League. They begin with a playoff game at Klahowya on Tuesday.
Friday’s win was a bit of revenge after a 2-2 tie with the Gators on Tuesday.
“We felt like we should have won that game. We were missing some of our players,” said coach Robert Cantley.
Annie Wright actually got ahead, scoring on a deflection in the first few minutes of the match.
The trio of Kaylen Pray, Iris Mattern and Ava Shiflett was deadly for the Rivals, however. Pray scored in the 15th minute with an assist to Shiflett to tie the game at 1-1.
The Rivals had a flurry of goals right before the end of the first half. Mattern scored the Rivals’ second goal off a corner kick, then Shiflett scored a goal with an assist to Pray.
Just before the end of the half, Mattern scored her second goal, taking a ball at midfield, turning and driving to the net to make it 4-1, giving the Rivals a nice margin for the second half.
Shiflett scored her second goal early in the second half, with the assist going to Pray. Mattern finished with two goals, Shiflett had two goals and an assist and Pray had a goal and two assists.
Klahowya is league champs with a record of 12-0-1, but this is a double-elimination tournament so the Rivals (6-5-3 overall, 4-5-3 in league) will continue playing after Tuesday win or lose.
Port Angeles’ Catie Brown, center, maneauvers past Bremerton’s Cassandra Deforest as her teammate, Bailee Larson, looks on from behind on Thursday evening at Wally Sigmar Field in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
