PORT ANGELES — The road to another NWAACC championship begins this Saturday for the Peninsula College soccer program.
Except this fall, it could be two Pirate teams bringing home a title instead of one.
Peninsula College has emerged as a men’s and women’s soccer powerhouse in the NWAACC, with each winning West Division crowns this season.
Now the Pirate men and women each get a chance to punch a ticket to the Final Four with victories in Saturday’s quarterfinal matches at Sigmar Field.
The women play Spokane at noon, and the men take on Everett at 2 p.m.
For the women, Saturday’s match marks a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff when the Sasquatch eliminated the first-year program with a 5-0 shutout at a sloppy Civic Field.
This year, however, the Pirates appear to be stronger, faster and deeper than they were in 2010.
The Peninsula women are ranked No. 3 in the NWAACC, won the West with a 14-1-1 record and are 15-2-3 overall without a single loss at Sigmar Field.
The scoring attack is spread out among seven or more players, led by the school-record eight goals from Shelby Solomon (Fairbanks, Alaska), seven from Jackie Rodgers (Seattle), six from Kelsie Ng (Waipahu, Hawaii) and five each from Kirah Kanari (Perth, Australia) and Tabitha Bare (Wasilla, Alaska.)
The Pirates have scored 51 goals this season and given up just 11. Goalkeeper Krystal Daniels (Kent) has recorded a school record nine shutouts.
Daniels figures to be tested by an explosive Spokane team (11-4-0, 15-5-0) that is ranked No. 2 in the NWAACC behind East champion Walla Walla.
Dangerous scorers
The Sasquatch have two deadly scorers in Alli Floyd (23 goals) and Nikki Caudill (18 goals), and have scored the second-most goals (78) in the entire NWAACC while giving up 23.
While the Pirates haven’t lost since Sept. 17, the Spokane women have lost four of their last eight matches.
“We began the season with three important goals in mind: win the West division, play our best soccer in November and win an NWAACC championship,” Peninsula women’s head coach Kanyon Anderson said.
“We knew there would be big hurdles along the way, and this Spokane team is the biggest hurdle so far. Saturday will be a fantastic opportunity for us, and we are looking forward to seeing how good we can be.”
The Pirate men have gone wire-to-wire as the top-ranked team in the NWAACC. All it takes is three more wins to claim back-to-back NWAACC championships.
Peninsula went 11-0-2 to claim its third straight West Division title this fall and is 17-0-2 overall.
The Pirates boast the No. 1 scorer in the NWAACC in sophomore Miguel Gonzalez of Yelm, who has tallied a Pirate record 31 goals. He also has 10 assists.
Dean Gaynor of Ireland has 12 goals and 10 assists, Sean Prizeman of Ireland has eight goals and Sergio Oliveira of Brazil has six.
Daniel Gonzalez, younger brother of Miguel, leads the NWAACC with 14 assists and Dustin Walsh of Port Angeles has six.
The Pirates have 11 shutouts this season, most of those recorded by last year’s championship MVP Jared Wilson, a sophomore out of Anchorage, Alaska.
As a team, Peninsula leads the NWAACC with 70 goals, while giving up just 12.
Peninsula and Everett (5-7-1 in North, 6-10-1 overall) played back on Sept. 21 at Sigmar Field with the Trojans suffering their worst loss of the season, 7-0, at the hands of the Pirates.
“While it is great what these guys have done so far, winning the division and not losing a game this year, the men agree that they haven’t really done anything yet and really want the NWAACC title,” Peninsula men’s coach Andrew Chapman said.
“We are hoping we can stay healthy and continue to do what has made us great so far this year.”
