PORT ANGELES — Youth was served by the Port Angeles girls soccer team in its Rainshadow Rivalry with Sequim, as the Roughriders broken open a tightly contested contest with a flurry of three goals in six minutes in the second half.
The Riders went on to win 4-0. Port Angeles served notice that its young players are ready to show the Olympic League a thing or two for the next few years as two goals were scored by freshman Emma Desjardins and two more by sophomore Mariah Traband.
Sequim kept the game tight throughout the first half as both teams had some golden opportunities to score. Port Angeles’ Kennedy Rognlien and Sequim’s Lilli Andeson both made spectacular saves to keep the game scoreless over the first 27 minutes.
“Every time we play Port Angeles, they give us their best game,” said Sequim assistant coach Vianna Cadanes.
Desjardins said she was proud of how the team responded after losing an earlier game 4-0 to league-leading Bainbridge.
“We stopped kicking the ball around and started connecting on our passes. We weren’t on the same page [against Bainbridge]. I really believe we can beat them,” she said.
Anderson’s fantastic save came first. Desjardins made a couple of great dekes to get past a couple of Sequim defenders and got off a powerful high shot. Anderson jumped up to deflect the shot off the crossbar. The ball rattled around in the box for a few seconds, but the Riders defenders were able to get it out of harm’s way.
Sequim got off a powerful long shot in the 13th minute and Rognlien made a diving save. The Wolves got a corner kick out of it and had a couple of chances with a loose ball in front of the goal mouth, but again the Roughrider defenders were able to clear the area.
Traband finally got the Riders on board on the 27th minute, collecting a loose ball near midfield and getting past Sequim’s defense for a one-on-one opportunity against Anderson, putting the ball in to give Port Angeles the lead.
Sequim nearly got an equalizer four minutes later on a corner kick as Ruby Moxley-Horgan’s header just went wide. Moxley-Horgan was a force all night for the Wolves, pressuring the Riders’ defenders all over the field and getting off several good shots. She couldn’t just quite beat Rognlien.
The Riders roared right back down the field after that corner kick, and Teanna Clark got off a strong shot off a good crossing pass, but Anderson again made a great save, gobbling the ball up. Anderson made yet another diving save in stoppage time on a Traband shot toward the corner of the net.
After all that action in the first half, Port Angeles had just a 1-0 lead at the break as Anderson kept the Wolves close with her saves. It felt like either team could have had two or three goals by the half.
Port Angeles coach Daniel Horton said what changed in the second half is the Riders doing a better job of finishing off plays.
“We told them they had a lot of opportunities and had played well, but that we have to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said.
Cadanes said the Wolves made a couple of mistakes to allow the Riders open shots but said the team will learn.
“We’ll come out stronger,” she said.
In the second half, Port Angeles broke through quickly. Desjardins again deked a couple of Sequim defenders on the left wing and opened up some space for a power shot just inside the right post in the 45th minute.
Just three minutes later, Traband made a run down the right wing and made a perfect cross to Desjardins in the box for her second goal of the night.
Traband wrapped up the scoring with a solo effort in the 51st minute, getting loose behind the defense after a collision with a Sequim player to give Port Angeles a commanding 4-0 lead.
Rognlien earned her shutout, making several saves in the second half, the best very late in the game on an extremely long high shot that forced the Riders’ goalkeeper to make a one-handed running save.
Horton felt the Riders’ defense played well and he singled out the play of senior center back Cayleigh Alward.
“Sequim was settling for deep shots, and we’re more than confident in Kennedy on those shots,” Horton said.
Port Angeles (3-1, 5-1) hosts North Kitsap today at 1 p.m.
Sequim (2-3, 2-4) visits North Kitsap on Tuesday.
