PORT ANGELES — They refer to one another as soccer sisters.
The way they complemented each other on the Port Angeles girls team this season, there’s little doubt Paxton Rodocker and Kathryn Moseley share a special bond.
Rodocker was the physical, demanding presence on the back line who locked up opposing strikers.
Moseley was the soccer savvy midfielder who opened up the game for teammates with her vision and deft passes.
Thrown together, that relationship was key to one of the most successful seasons in recent Roughrider girls soccer history.
“They both have high expectations when it comes to excellence in sports, and I think they pulled everybody along with that,” Rider coach Scott Moseley said.
Few would know the duo better than Scott. As Kathryn’s father, he’s seen them grow up together through athletics.
Paxton and Kathryn have been teammates on either the basketball court or soccer field since the fourth grade. They developed an intuitive understanding of one another in the process.
Nowhere was that more pronounced than on the pitch, according to Rodocker.
“We call each other our soccer sisters because we’ve played soccer together for a really long time, we feel like family,” Rodocker said.
“We both had a feeling of where the other person would be, and we always knew how to connect on the field, whether it was making passes or making runs down the field.”
“I would agree with that,” Moseley said, “especially with me playing a little bit back more [in the midfield] we were able to talk a lot whether it was marking up or pushing up.
“It was good to have that chemistry between us.”
Perhaps one of the greatest reasons for that chemistry is the fact that neither player’s role has changed much since they first began playing together.
Moseley has always been the one up front making the offense hum.
Rodocker has always been the one in the back cleaning things up.
And neither would have it any other way.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Moseley said.
“The more we play together, the more we get to know each other and push each other to be better.”
This year, both pushed Port Angeles to new heights.
Won honors
Rodocker was named a first-team All-Olympic League defender, thanks to her physical, hard-crashing style of play.
She drew the raves of opposing coaches after matches, leading a defense that surrendered an average of just 1.3 goals per game.
Moseley was given second-team honors after leading the league in assists with eight and scoring seven goals.
Due in large part to those efforts, Port Angeles won more matches (8) than it had during any other season in the past 10 years.
The Riders also came within a victory of its first state trip in 25 years.
That capped a three-year run that saw Port Angeles match the program record for consecutive playoff appearances with three in a row.
“I think what really changed it was the girls realized how good they actually could be, they actually started believing it,” said Rodocker, who, like Moseley, started all three seasons.
“When you lose a game you believe that you are defeated for a while, but what makes a good soccer team is the building off that defeat.
“I think the girls sophomore year and on developed the mind set that we are a good team.”
Moseley said she is done with her competitive soccer-playing career, content to go to Azusa Pacific University in Southern California and study graphic design.
Rodocker, however, plans to move on to Peninsula College and play for the NWAACC runner-up Pirates next fall.
For the first time in years, she’ll have to do it without Moseley out on the pitch with her.
“It’s definitely going to be hard to adjust to,” Rodocker said. “But every season brings it’s challenges.
“I guess that’s going to be my challenge next season is playing with another group of players.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how I play next year without one of my key friends out there, but I know she’ll support me.”