PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles shook off any lingering after effects of an awful first half, rallying with three second-half scores for a 3-1 win over Olympic League foe Bremerton in a Class 2A District 2/3 girls soccer tournament loser-out contest on Wednesday.
The Roughriders advanced to another loser-out district match tonight against Lindbergh at 7 p.m. at North Mason High School in Belfair.
Junior outside back Maeve Croteau produced two on-target free kicks that were sent in for scores by Izzy Felton and Anna Petty, while Petty also notched a goal assisted by Kedryn DeScala during a 17-minute stretch of Port Angeles dominance to open the second half.
But it took a slog of a first half to arrive there, brightened only by the play of Croteau and freshman defender Cayleigh Alward.
“We had a slow, sloppy start with no sense of urgency,” coach Daniel Horton said. “We were not playing like our season could come to an end. It was like a Sunday kick-around session. Bremerton absolutely outplayed outplayed us in every aspect of the game in the first half. That’s what the team in the underdog role has to do, play their best, and they were winning every 50/50 ball, taking the ball from our feet, pushing us.”
Bremerton, a team the Riders previously beat in two league contests, went ahead 1-0 in the 17th minute.
“We went into the [equipment] shed at halftime and asked if the team wanted us to have a casual conversation or be brutally hontest? And they chose the brutal honesty,” Horton said. “And we went over what we weren’t doing: the midfield wasn’t controlling the ball, our strikers weren’t shooting, nobody had a first touch, and we weren’t playing aggressively enough to win.”
The Riders regrouped, with Croteau connecting with Izzy Felton to tie the game at 1-1 five minutes into the second half.
“Anna normally takes our free kicks when we have the opportunity to put it on goal,” Horton said. “But to get Anna involved in the goal box to score or settle the ball, we decided let’s let Maeve take the free kick from further away. At the 45-minute mark, she played it low almost on the ground right through the box and Izzy ran into the box, crashed the goal and buried it in the back of the net off the inside of her foot.”
Petty notched the go-ahead goal three minutes later when she and Descala put together a number of passes on a run downfield.
Petty scored again with an insurance poke in the 57th minute.
“Same thing as Izzy’s goal, Maeve put another great ball into the box and Anna was there to finish,” Horton said.
He added Alward was solid all game long.
“Without question, she played her best game,” Horton said.
“It was completely different on defense in the second half. Our whole back line stepped up, Becca Manson stepped up in the midfield, everybody decided it’s time to play and decided to take the game to them. All of a sudden, you look up and our back line is 10 yards deep into the Bremerton side of the field rather than deep in our own end.”
Fifth-seed Port Angeles will now face No. 8 Lindbergh (11-6) in a rematch of a 2021 winner-to-state district contest won by the Riders.
“They like to play physical, [top-seeded] Fife beat them 5-0 [Tuesday], but early in the game, they were pushing Fife off the ball. It didn’t look like it was going to be a 5-0 match, so they are definitely a team that won’t play us scared.”
Lindbergh 3, Sequim 1
RENTON — The No. 9 Wolves (9-7-0) couldn’t dig out of a two-goal halftime deficit and were ousted from district play by the eighth-seeded Eagles on Wednesday.
“We made a couple of mistakes here and there, and teams at this level will make you pay,” coach Ken Garling said.
Sequim wanted to hold to the formula that produced a 2-0 win over Clover Park to open the postseason Tuesday.
“First 10 minutes, we stuck to our gameplan, which was the same as against Clover Park — pressure them up high and try and get a score quickly,” Garling said.
“We were able to get a turnover, a shot on goal, followed up with a second shot that almost went in, but Lindbergh did a good job of counterattacking off of that and got a goal in the first three or four minutes.”
Garling said the Wolves started to keep better possession of the ball after the score, but yielded a corner kick in the 28th minute.
“We missed a clearance on the corner and the ball richocheted off of one of our defenders’ feet and into the goal, so we were down 2-0 at halftime.”
Lindbergh wasn’t making things easy for Sequim to get back into the game, sending four or five defenders behind the ball to slow Sequim striker Taryn Johnson.
The Eagles took to the air in the 54th minute to go up 3-0.
“They sent in a long-distance, high-arching, looping shot that went in,” Garling said. “One of those kicks that’s so well-placed that there’s just nothing much to do with it [defensively].”
The Wolves snapped the shutout around the 60th minute.
“At some point, you have to answer, and we did on a really good ball in from Jenny Gomez,” Garling said. “She countered, took a couple of nice dribbles up the field and slotted the ball to the left side of the goalkeeper, and Taryn found the net.”
Sequim switched into a three-striker formation to chase down more goals.
“You started to see the momentum shift a bit. We were pressuring well and taking good chances, but we just couldn’t score,” Garling said.
Sequim will likely return the core of this season’s squad, including Johnson, the all-time leading goal scorer in school history, plus Gomez, Kaia Lestage and many others.
“The majority of the group will be back, and I definitely think we will make some noise next season in the Olympic League,” Garling said.
Area Sports
Today
Regular Season Football: East Jefferson at Granite Falls, 6:30 p.m.; Port Angeles at Chief Sealth, 7:30 p.m.
Playoff Football: Class 1B Quad District playoffs: Winlock vs. Neah Bay at Forks, 6 p.m. (loser-out, winner-to-state).
Swim and Dive: Class 1A/2A West Central/Sea-King Bi-District championships at Mount Tahoma Aquatic Center, diving at Auburn High School, 4 p.m.
Girls Soccer: Class 2A District 2/3 tournament: Port Angeles vs. Lindbergh at North Mason High School, 7 p.m. (loser-out)
Saturday
Playoff Football: Lake Quinault vs. Quilcene at Memorial Field in Port Townsend, 1 p.m. (Loser-out, winner-to-state)
Swim and Dive: Class 1A/2A West Central/Sea-King Bi-District championships at Mount Tahoma Aquatic Center, diving at Auburn High School. 9 a.m.
Cross Country: Cross Country state championships at Sun Willow Golf Course, Pasco,10 a.m.
Girls Tennis: Class 1A Nisqually League Championships at Sprinker Tennis Center, Spanaway, TBD
Men’s Soccer: NWAC Tournament Quarterfinal: Walla Walla at Peninsula, 6:15 p.m.
Women’s Soccer: NWAC Tournament Quarterfinal: Spokane at Peninsula, 4 p.m.
Girls Soccer: Class 2A District 2/3 tournament: Port Angeles/Lindbergh-winner vs. Olympic/Sammamish-winner at Franklin Pierce, 4 p.m. (winner-to-state, loser-out).
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at mcarman@ peninsuladailynews.com.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles’ Kedryn DeScala, right, tries to keep ahead of Bremerton’s Charlotte Bronold during Wednesday’s Olympic League playoff game at Peninsula College.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles’ Isabelle Felton, right, settles the ball as teammates, Anna Petty, left, and Becca Manson follow behind on Wednesday night in Port Angeles.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles’ Pyper Alton, center, maneauvers between Bremerton’s Marisol Popoca-Pablo, left, and Claire Warthen, right, as Alton’s teammate Becca Manson, follows behind on Wednesday in Port Angeles.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles’ Anna Petty, right, advances the ball as Bremerton’s Marisol Popoca-Pablo, left, defends on Wednesday at Wally Sigmar Field in Port Angeles.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles’ Maeve Croteau, center, and Bremerton’s Alexis Hooley, fight for the ball as Croteau’s teammate, Kennedy Rognlien looks on at right during Wednesday’s match in Port Angeles.
