ABERDEEN — The Peninsula College women’s soccer team finally took over first place in the Northwest Athletic Conference West Region by defeating Grays Harbor 8-0 at Stewart Field.
The Pirates (10-1, 12-1) beat Highline earlier last week, but the Thunderbirds (9-1-1, 11-1-1) maintained the points lead because they had played one more game than Peninsula.
But now things are equal and the Pirates lead the West’s points race 30-20.
The Chokers (0-11, 1-11-1) played Peninsula fairly tight in the first half Saturday, holding the top-ranked Pirates to two goals by Solana Ashe and Mary Pierce before intermission.
Rebecca Tafte added a goal in the 55th minute to make it 3-0. That was followed in the 60th minute by Pierce’s second goal and a 71st-minute goal by Paige Mahuka.
Then Peninsula put the match out of reach with a pair of goals by Olivia Moore in the 80th and 82nd minutes and Mahuka’s second goal of the matchin the 86th minute.
Lexi Krieger had two assists for the Pirates.
Kasie Lough recorded the shutout — her sixth of the season, tying her with for the NWAC lead with Everett’s Rachel Leupold.
The Peninsula women open a doubleheader with Olympic at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Wally Sigmar Field.
The Pirate men follow with a 4 p.m. game against the Rangers.
