COLLEGE SOCCER: Peninsula men score six second-half goals in win

TUKWILA — Peninsula College broke open a one-goal game at halftime, pouring in six second-half goals, including a post-halftime goal-scoring spree by Pau Vivas, as the Pirate men drubbed Portland 7-0 Wednesday.

Up 1-0 at the break, Peninsula pressed the pace a bit to pounce on Portland.

“We just raised the tempo a little bit and played a little bit quicker with a bit more intensity and we finished more chances,” head coach Jake Hughes said. “We had a lot of chances in the first half and were just a bit unlucky.”

The win was the second in as many days at the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) Friendlies for the defending conference champions, Peninsula beat Tacoma 3-1 on Tuesday.

Vivas collected a natural hat trick, scoring three goals consecutively, in the 46th minute off an assist by Julius Koelle and back-to-back scores in the 63rd and 64th minutes to put the game well out of reach at 4-0.

“He scored on a shot from distance that beat the goalkeeper and he had a couple of right-place, right-time goals that were nice,” Hughes said.

Peninsula also added goals in the 66th minute on an unassisted Nils Grau score, and Grau assisted on freshman Ezrah Ochoa’s goal a minute later.

Grau collected his second goal of the match and third in two days to round out the scoring in the 87th minute.

Pirates goalkeeper Walter Garcia saved four shots on goal to earn the shutout.

“Defensively, I was happy with the performance in the Portland game, they played the ball up from the back and we were able to defend them up higher and force turnovers,” Hughes said. “Tacoma played a more direct style, not playing the ball out through the back as much, so we had to defend more up the field.”

Peninsula (2-0-0) visits South Puget Sound on Tuesday.