TUKWILA — The Peninsula College women’s soccer team is making history and is on the verge of putting an exclamation point on it.
The Pirates shut out Clackamas 1-0 in the NWAACC semifinals Saturday afternoon and now have an appointment against NWAACC powerhouse Walla Walla today in the championship final at 3 p.m. at the Starfire Sports Complex.
Top-ranked Walla Walla earned the other final spot by blasting Everett 3-1 in the other semifinal game Saturday.
The Warriors, 21-0-1, are seeking a perfect season after outscoring opponents 102-6 in 22 games this year.
The Pirates (17-2-3), meanwhile, are hoping to join the Peninsula men’s soccer and men’s basketball programs with an NWAACC championship.
The Peninsula men may be going after their second title in a row but played too late in Saturday’s semifinals for Sunday’s editions.
Peninsula women’s coach Kanyon Anderson said he believes the Pirates have a good shot at beating the Warriors today.
“We, the coaches, watched Walla Walla play today and saw, like any team, that they have weaknesses,” he said. “I think we match up to those weaknesses pretty well.”
The Warriors like to wear teams down with a style that Anderson compares to a basketball team that runs a full-court press the entire game.
Anderson planned ahead for that by substituting freely against the Clackamas Cougars on Saturday.
“Our legs are good and fresh,” he said.
Peninsula’s Jackie Rodgers, the West Division MVP, scored the winning goal against Clackamas at 29 minutes on a penalty kick and the Pirates made it stand.
Pirate All-Region forward Shelby Solomon was tackled in the box by a defender to get the penalty.
Then Rodgers kicked it hard into the left corner for the score.
The game wasn’t nearly as close as the score might indicate as the Pirates out-shot the Cougars 12-5 and kept the ball on the Clackamas side of the field most of the game.
“They bent but they didn’t break,” Anderson said about the Cougars.
The entire Peninsula backfield played well, Anderson said. That includes Aubrey Briscoe, Ashlyn Frizzelle, Kimmy Jones and Felicia Collins.
And midfielder Tabitha Bare received special mention from her coach.
“Tabitha had a fantastic game for us,” Anderson said.
