SEQUIM — Port Angeles freshman Becca Manson turned on the ball and lofted a well-placed lob from deep just past the outstretched finger tips of Sequim goalkeeper Kalli Grove and into the net for the winning goal in a 3-2 girls soccer victory over rival Sequim on Tuesday.
“One of those funny ones,” Port Angeles coach Daniel Horton said. “She’s one of our quiet, somewhat timid freshmen, but she’s stepping up and playing a big role for us defensively at sweeper.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve needed a boost on offense, so we told her when there’s a situation that benefits us, push up and be offensive-minded. So the ball landed at her feet, she didn’t force a pass, but she made a good move, put a boot on it and put it just over the goalie’s head.”
The goal came in the 60th minute and gave Port Angeles its first lead of the game — having had to catch up to Sequim twice before on the scoreboard.
“This was really hard [game to win] because Sequim is a talented team, but I feel like it was another one of those games where we looked like the better team for much of the game, we’d control the ball on their end and keep possession, but one mistake and it was going the other way.”
“Sequim as a team have an amazing first touch, when the ball lands at their feet it’s hard to get turnovers and they really know how to take advantage of your turnovers. As soon as we messed up in the middle, they were putting the ball over the top and it’s a foot race.”
Sequim notched the first goal in the 36th minute when Aliyah Weber took the ball up the right side, made a few nifty moves before crossing the ball back to Taryn Johnson in space in the middle of the field. Johnson sent a right-to-left shot into the upper left corner.
“Aliyah is playing that right side of the diamond in midfield, she was aggressive in getting the ball upfield, and once she turned, she slotted a beautiful ball through to Taryn,” Sequim coach Ken Garling said. “It was an incredible hustle play and pass and a great finish.”
The Riders scored soon after when Julia Baeder sent in a shot from a tough right-to-left angle after Piper Williams saved possession on the sideline.
“That was a really surprising goal by Julia on the edge of the 18. You need that against a rival like Sequim,” Horton said.
Garling said his team had a post-goal let down.
“The next five minutes after scoring a goal, emotions are high, and they score off a looping kick from right to left,” Garling said.
Johnson answered in the 47th minute, as Johnson timed the entry pass of Raimey Brewer perfectly, racing past all four Port Angeles defenders and cruising around Riders goalie Saylah Commerton before depositing the ball softly in the back of the net.
“Raimey picked that ball up in the midfield, saw it, made a great through ball that split the two defenders,” Garling said. “I thought the PA keeper would get to it, but Taryn beat her to it and dribbled it in as cool and calm and composed as can be.”
On the opposite side of the field, Horton was looking for an offside call.
“I thought she was four or five yards offside,” Horton said. “But when I looked at the film, I saw that she timed her run so well, she has obviously spent a lot of time training on her timing, and she found a way to look even faster than she is with that ability.
“Those situations really deflate you. We had the ball at our feet on their end and boom they go 1-2 and they are in the net. I don’t think a lot of teams can bounce back from that, but we did a nice job of going right back to play.”
Minutes later, Anna Petty earned a penalty kick off a throw-in for the Riders.
“That was big and just shows her knowledge of the game,” Horton said. “A throw-in deep in their zone and she set herself up to receive the ball clearly in the box. At that point in the game, they were making sure they had a body on her so she couldn’t turn. Their defender came in too strong and she knew contact was coming. It could have been called either way [a penalty kick or a free kick just outside the 18-yard box].”
Manson’s goal followed three minutes later for second-place Port Angeles (6-2-0). The Riders host North Mason tonight.
“We kept fighting and creating chances and PA saw the situation and started to slow the game down to run out the clock,” Garling said.
Garling came away impressed with his team’s play.
“As a whole probably our best game we played all season,” he said. “We put a complete game together, stuck to our scheme of working to the width and created good scoring chances.
He also praised midfielder Jenny Gomez for her two-way play.
“Jenny Gomez was vital to us in midfield, just a relentless player, defending and getting us on the counterattack,” Garling said.
Sequim (5-4-0) sits third in the Class 2A Olympic League standings, a game ahead of Bremerton.
