PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s soccer team will come in to this season being one of the most-hunted teams in the NWAC.
Not only are the Pirates the defending NWAC champions, they are also the preseason No. 1-ranked team by the coaches — and by a relatively wide margin.
Despite the high preseason ranking, this will be a vastly different team from last year, with 17 incoming freshmen and only nine returning sophomores, though some of those returning sophomores are huge cogs from last year.
“It is a factor. We’re a young team,” said head coach Jake Hughes, who won his second NWAC championship last year.
This team has a worldly flavor to it with players from Spain, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Norway. There is also a Yakima contingent of three players and others from Cashmere, Leavenworth and Sequim.
Leading that young team will be Nil Grau of Girona, Spain, one of the leading scorers from last year’s squad with eight goals and 10 assists. Grau was the North Region MVP last year and also made two penalty kicks in the grueling 11-10 shootout win over Highline in the NWAC championship game.
“He has great leadership qualities,” Hughes said.
The Pirates will also get a huge boost from the return of Pau Vivas from Barcelona, Spain. Much like Grau, Vivas is a dynamic, physical forward who knocked in 14 goals in 2022. He was only able to play seven games last year because of injury and was forced to redshirt the rest of the year.
The good news is, he’s coming back to Peninsula College for a third year, gaining another year of eligibility because of his injury.
“When healthy and fit, he’s a player who can score goals and change games,” Hughes said.
Also returning is last year’s lead goalkeeper, Laurin Lettow from Freiburg, Germany. In 12 starts last year, he allowed 13 goals for a 1.19 goals allowed average.
Grau and Lettow bring a lot of toughness and grit honed from an exceptionally rugged 2023 season. The Pirates found themselves in a dogfight all season just to make the postseason. At one point in midseason, they were buried in fourth place and out of a postseason berth. They won three out of their last four games to not only make the postseason but win the North over some solid teams.
Then in the championship game against Highline, they were just five or six minutes from victory but gave up a game-tying goal in the 86th minute. They not only overcame that deflating goal, after two overtimes, they were forced to go to a nerve-wracking 11 rounds of penalty kicks.
This year might not be much easier as five teams in the North Region are ranked in the top 10 in the preseason poll. Peninsula is No. 1, Everett is No. 4, Bellevue No. 6, Skagit Valley No. 9 and Whatcom No. 10. Peninsula must play all of those teams in the regular season.
“In different years, you get different results” with such a tough schedule. “You can be battle tested but also beaten up,” Hughes said.
Other returning players include Caleb Rollo, defense, New Zealand; Jem Ndja, London, midfield; Rei Sato, defense; Konrad Mueller, midfield, Germany; Sid Gunton-Day, forward, UK; and Julius Koelle, midfield, Germany.
The Pirates have to replace some very important players from last year’s team such as Abe Tsubasa, Abdurahim Leigh, Matt Enriquez and Manny Garcia. Those four players accounted for 33 goals last season with Leigh as the team’s leading goal-scorer with 12.
Hughes said it’s hard to single out some of the newcomers to watch, because they all have strengths and are all capable of being special. He said Koya Kimuri, a midfielder from Japan, is “an exciting attacking player.”
Ezrah Ochoa of Union Gap is another “high-end attacking player” to watch.
“We’re very talented,” Hughes said. “As far as their character, it will be exciting to see them develop.”
Local players on the team include Mehki Ashby (defense) of Sequim and Navy Thomas-Brenske (goalkeeper) of Sequim, who is redshirting this season.
Other freshmen on the team include Issei Fujiwara (defense), Japan; Jeremie Kuelo (defense), Germany; Angel Sandoval (defense), Cashmere; Austin Collins (forward), UK; Noe Garfias (midfield), Yakima; Taha Takahashi (midfield), Japan; Karsten Bowles (defense), Leavenworth; Jamie Joyce (midfield), UK; Taro Takemori (defense), Japan; Noah Moe (defense), Norway; Joshua Kanyare (forward), UK; Edwin Diaz (midfield), Yakima; and Walter Garcia (goalkeeper), Reno, Nev.
The Pirates don’t have any home games scheduled until Sept. 18, though Hughes is hoping to schedule a home game against Pacific Lutheran on Sept. 4.
