PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s soccer team’s hold on the NWAACC West Division got a little more tenuous Saturday night.
The Pirates dropped a critical showdown 3-2 to division rival Bellevue under the Civic Field lights.
The loss, Peninsula’s second in three matches following an eight-game win streak, drops the top-ranked Pirates to 6-2-1 in league and 8-2-3 overall.
Bellevue (6-2-0, 9-2-1) now lurks just one point behind in the standings with one game in hand.
“We just didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball,” Pirates coach Andrew Chapman said.
“We didn’t do a very good job of clearing the ball out, so we brought a lot of stuff down to their feet. Unfortunately, it caught up to us.”
Bellevue outshot Peninsula 16-7 on the game, with the two teams exchanging goals in the first and second half.
The Bulldogs then scored the go-ahead goal in the 78th minute.
The Pirate women were held scoreless for the second time in three games as they lost 1-0 to Bellevue.
Peninsula is now winless in its last six matches (0-3-3) after moving to 3-3-3 in league and 4-5-4 overall.
(Men) Bellevue 3, Peninsula 2
Bellevue 1 2 — 2
Peninsula 1 1 — 3
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Bellevue, 7th minute; 1, Peninsula, Walsh (Holguin).
Second Half: 2, Bellevue, 55th minute; 2, Peninsula Hindmarch (Oppeltz), 62nd minute; 3, Bellevue 78th minute.
(Women) Bellevue 1, Peninsula 0
Bellevue 0 1 — 1
Peninsula 0 0 — 0
Scoring Summary
First half: No scoring.
Second Half: 1, Bellevue, 80th minute.
