PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College Pirates clinched their second straight West Division women’s soccer championship with a 4-0 shutout against Lower Columbia at Wally Sigmar Field.
The Pirates, who earlier this week moved up to No. 13 on the NSCAA Junior College National Top 20 poll, secured an NWAACC home quarterfinal playoff game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10.
Wednesday’s match proved to be closer than fans expected as the 17-1-0 Peninsula women, ranked No. 1 in NWAACC, struggled to find the goal against the defensive-minded 2-11-4 Red Devils.
Peninsula’s record-breaking scorer, freshman Briana Afoa, scored her 15th goal of the season 29 minutes into the match off an assist from Ashlyn Crossan.
While the Pirates pounded away at the visitors for 45 minutes, the score stood 1-0 at the half.
The Peninsula women then broke through for three goals in the second half.
Morgan Atchley put one in the Red Devil net at the 50-minute mark off an assist from Afoa, and it was the Hawaiian scoring sensation herself just two minutes later with her NWAACC-leading 16th goal, off an assist from Sydney Bullington.
Peninsula’s final goal came from Atchley, her second of the match, again off a pass from Afoa.
The Pirates outshot Lower Columbia 52-0.
Peninsula’s goalkeeper, Laura Morgan, recorded the shutout with no saves, while Red Devil keeper, Emma Glasow, had a very busy afternoon with 27 saves.
Next up for the Peninsula women is a road trip to Tacoma on Saturday where the Pirates, who lead the NWAACC in goals scored this season with 97, will be looking to hit the century mark.
Kickoff at Titans Field is noon.
The Peninsula College men’s team (17-1-0), which had Wednesday off, will play at Tacoma (4-5-1) starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Titans are in third place in the West while the Pirates previously captured the West Division championship.
