PORT ANGELES — Dr. Wally Sigmar and Jim Lunt both had to be smiling down on the Pirates as they shut out the Tacoma women and men in their home opener at Wally Sigmar Field.
The field was dressed out for the first home matches of the season and the nationally ranked Peninsula College soccer teams treated the home fans to two impressive victories Tuesday to remain unbeaten in 2014.
The Peninsula women beat the Titans 5-0 and the men won 2-0 in the first games against Northwest Athletic Conference West Region foes for the Pirates.
Sigmar was Peninsula’s president who led the effort to bring intercollegiate sports to the college.
He is in the NWAC Hall of Fame for his career as a player and a coach in the sport of soccer. Peninsula’s field was named in his honor following his passing in 2000.
Lunt, who passed away only last month, was also part of the effort to resurrect sports at Peninsula in 1997 and was the athletic director at the college when Peninsula added soccer in 2000.
Women’s Game
Peninsula 5, Tacoma 0
The Pirates, ranked No. 8 in the National Soccer Coaches Association Junior College Division I poll, improved to 5-0 on the season with their fifth shutout, dominating the Titans from the opening kickoff.
Tacoma had no answer for the Peninsula front line, led by sophomore Alyssa Bertuleit, who completely had her way, scoring the game’s first goal on a through pass from defender Michele Whan and then blasting it through the outstretched hands of Titan keeper Maria Alonso just seven minutes into the match.
Bertuleit went on to deliver a hat trick of assists, including those that led to Peninsula’s next two goals.
She crossed the ball to teammate Mary Pierce, who made it 2-0 10 minutes in, and then delivered a similar ball to sophomore Solana Ashe, who also put it home for a 3-0 Pirates lead at the 19-minute mark.
Ashe scored again just five minutes later on a pass from Pierce and Peninsula coasted on to a 4-0 lead at halftime.
Tacoma had watched Bertuleit dribble the ball past their defenders to the baseline and then cross it back in front of the goal all day, but they still couldn’t stop her — and she did it again early in the second half, this time to the foot of sophomore Brittney Yoshimura for the match’s final goal.
The Titans were held to just three shots on goal and Peninsula sophomore keeper Kasie Lough was credited with two saves, although neither had a much of chance to go in.
It was Lough’s third start and her third shutout of the season.
Men’s Game
Peninsula 2, Tacoma 0
The Pirates were expecting a battle from a Tacoma team that had posted four wins — and they got one.
Peninsula, ranked No. 12 in the NSCAA Poll, controlled the tempo for most of the match and improved to 4-0 on the season with a 2-0 win, but it did not come easy.
The first goal of the match came on an all-Brazil connection when Caio Maciel, a sophomore from Salvador, put a corner kick into the center of the box where teammate Kassio Monteiro of Sao Paulo came flying through the pack to score the goal just seven minutes into the match.
That score stood through the first half, as the Peninsula went into the break leading 1-0.
The Pirates then surprised Tacoma just seconds into the second half when they moved the ball into Titan territory and Maciel took a shot from the elbow that found its way through the feet of a half dozen defenders and into the far corner of the goal for the insurance goal.
Tacoma battled to the end, getting off 12 shots in the match, including one in the final 10 minutes that banged off the post, but freshman keeper Nick Johnson, making his first start, recorded the shutout.
Johnson had been on the sideline since suffering a concussion in a scrimmage at the University of Victoria last month. He finished with three saves.
The Pirates, meanwhile, finished with 15 shots and Tacoma’s keeper Ian Fry had seven saves.
