MOUNT VERNON — The Peninsula College men’s soccer team isn’t the only one on campus that knows how to light up a scoreboard.
As the women proved in their 7-0 road victory over the Skagit Valley Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon, they’re figuring out how to find the back of the net as well.
Kirah Kanari scored a pair of goals, and Jackie Rodgers added a goal and an assist to lead the Pirates to an impressive rout of the winless Cardinals.
The win not only maintained Peninsula’s grip on first place in the NWAACC West Division standings, it also extended a string of four shutouts in its last five matches.
And that, despite all the extra goals, was what Pirates coach Kanyon Anderson wanted to talk about after the win.
“Everybody is scoring a lot of goals against [Skagit],” said Anderson, whose team is now 4-1-0 in the West and 5-2-2 overall.
“The more important part is we limited them to one shot. That’s kind of where our focus is. That’s what we talked about right after the game, that we got a shutout, and that’s what we’re focussing on.”
With six different goal scorers — Tabitha Bare, Shelby Solomon, Kelsie Ng and Kendra Miner all scored as well — the Pirates received contributions up and down the roster.
Rodgers opened up the scoring with a goal in the 14th minute off a free kick. The Pirates then added three more in the next 16 minutes, one coming off the foot of Kanari, to take a 4-0 lead into the half.
After that, it was only a matter of time before they locked up their third straight win.
“We were down there all game long [on Skagit’s side of the field],” said Anderson, whose team out-shot Skagit 26-1. “We put the pressure on [the keeper] to make some saves. She made some, and some got past her.”
Krystal Daniels got the shutout in goal for Peninsula, her fourth of the season.
Peninsula 7, Skagit 0
Peninsula 4 3 — 7
Skagit 0 0 — 0
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Peninsula, Rodgers (FK), 14th; 2, Peninsula, Bare (Frizzell), 22nd; 3, Peninsula, Kanari (Rodgers), 25th; Solomon (Farrell), 30th.
Second Half: 5, Peninsula, Ng (Rose), 64th; 6, Peninsula, Kanari (Dyer-Smith); 7, Peninsula, Miner, 71st.
Men’s Soccer
Peninsula 4, Skagit Valley 1
MOUNT VERNON — Miguel Gonzalez continued his assault on the Pirates’ record book with a four-goal performance in Wednesday afternoon’s NWAACC road victory.
The Peninsula sophomore, who already broke the career scoring mark two weeks into the season, set a few more records as he helped extend Peninsula’s win streak to 10 matches to begin the year.
His four-goal game is just the third in school history — Jared Robinson (2003) and Seth Ransom (2006) each had one — and also moved his single-season total to 18, three ahead of his own record from last fall.
Gonzalez scored his first three goals on assists from Dean Gaynor in the 25th, 28th and 39th minutes, then picked up his fourth in the 65th off a pass from Omar Ambrocio.
“We came out flat and gave up a early goal but we dug in and got the job done,” Peninsula men’s coach Andrew Chapman said.
The win keeps the top-ranked Pirates unbeaten at 4-0-0 in the West Division and 10-0-0 overall.
Both teams host its Whatcom counterparts on Saturday, with the women’s game at noon and the men’s at 2 p.m.
There will be a re-dedication of Sigmar Field in between the games. Look for more information on the special event in Friday’s edition of the PDN.
Peninsula 4, Skagit Valley 1
Peninsula 3 1 — 4
Skagit 1 0 — 1
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Skagit Valley, Murrell (Mejlaender), 12th; 1, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (Gaynor), 25th; 2, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (Gaynor), 28th; 3, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (Gaynor), 39th.
Second Half: 4, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (Ambrocio), 65th