PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula men had their highest-scoring game since 2017, erupting for nine goals, their most in at least three years, in a 9-0 win North Division opener over Shoreline on Saturday.
Nico Hernandez and Hide Inoue each scored two goals, while Mason Haubrich scored a goal and had an assist.
The women also won in a shutout, beating Shoreline 3-0.
The Peninsula men only scored a total of 33 goals all of last year, so in one game they scored more than one-fourth of all of last year’s goal-scoring total. The Pirates have already scored 17 goals in four matches this year.
The win keeps the Pirates undefeated (4-0-0) and in first place in the North Division.
The Pirates ended up having 32 shots, including 21 in the second half. Twenty-one of their shots were on-goal. Shoreline managed just three shots, two of which were on-goal.
The Pirates have also gone three straight games and 280 straight minutes without allowing a goal. They have given up just one goal in their four wins.
Despite the onslaught, coach Jake Hughes said this team can get better.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Hughes said. “We have to start better. We started a little passively.”
Hughes thought the team showed its depth with nine different players picking up points and 22 players getting in the game.
“We’re well on our way. We have a tough game [against Skagit Valley] coming up Wednesday,” Hughes said.
Last year, the Pirates’ highest-scoring game was five goals, also against Shoreline and in 2017, the team’s highest-scoring game was eight goals against Edmonds.
The game featured several spectacular goals, the best of which was a set piece between Edgar Tavares and Hernandez. Tavares hit a perfect curving shot from 30 yards out and Hernandez dove for the ball, heading it into the net while perpendicular to the ground.
Hernandez, who Hughes talked about before the season began as a player to watch, “I just saw the ball was coming a little low [and dove]. Every once in a while we have to sacrifice our bodies,” he said.
“We’re playing the best soccer we can right now. We showed the depth on our team [today],” Hernandez said.
Haubrich only got credit for one goal, but he also had a powerful shot that got through the Shoreline goalkeeper for a goal early in the first half. Officially, it was listed as an “own goal” for Shoreline as the keeper knocked it into his own net, but Haubrich’s shot created the goal.
Christopher Dominguez also had a great goal on a free kick from the midfield stripe. He booted the ball from 50 yards away and perfectly placed it over the Shoreline keeper’s outstretched arm and just under the crossbar for a tally.
Port Angeles’ Andrew St. George, a 2019 Roughriders’ graduate, played significant minutes in the second half and picked up an assist. He also had two shots. Inoue, last year’s goal-scoring leader for the Pirates, is leading the NWAC with five goals.
The Pirates play Skagit Valley (2-2-1, 0-1-0) at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Women’s soccer
Peninsula 3, Shoreline 0
The Peninsula women won 3-0 in a game they completely dominated, but afterward, coaches were frustrated with the team’s inability to finish off plays.
The Pirates outscored Shoreline 26-0 in three wins last season. This time, the Dolphins were determined to keep the score down, playing back in an all-defensive alignment, Peninsula managed 32 shots and 14 shots on goal, but could only get three of those shots past the Dolphins’ keeper — they and only got one goal in the second half on 17 shots.
Peninsula score its third goal in the 49th minute and while they peppered the goal with shots over the next 41 minutes, they couldn’t get any to go in. The Pirates women had to be kicking themselves as several of those shots were on wide-open nets, but the ball either went high or wide several times.
“Their defense was difficult for us to break down. We need to be sharper,” coach Kanyon Anderson said. “We need to be able to finish plays. It was kind of a frustrating day.”
Anderson said that they had to keep the game in perspective. It was a win and three league points. “It’s tough to be the defending [NWAC] champion. People will be approaching us differently,” he said.
Samantha Oliveira scored two goals for the Pirates, while Miya Clarke had two assists. Chimacum’s Grace Johnson continued being a huge contributor for the Pirates, tallying an assist on Oliveira’s first goal. Johnson and Oliveira are leading the Pirates in points with seven each.
Despite the frustration after the game, the women are undefeated at 5-0-0 (1-0-0 in the North Division), with two of those wins over four-year schools. The Pirates have also gone more than 360 minutes without allowing a goal.
Peninsula next plays at home at 2 p.m. Wednesday against Skagit Valley (1-2-1, 0-0-1).
Peninsula’s Samantha Oliveria, left, dribbles against Shoreline’s Carissa Thompson in the Pirates’ 3-0 win over the Dolphins on Saturday. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
