PORT ANGELES — The mighty have fallen, and at home no less.
Now it’s up to the Peninsula College men’s soccer team to regroup for an Northwest Athletic Conference tournament run.
The two-time defending conference champion Pirates fell 1-0 at Wally Sigmar Field to Highline on Wednesday at Wally Sigmar Field, losing the match and all but conceding the NWAC West Division title to the Thunderbirds in the process.
It was the first home loss for the Peninsula men (8-1-2, 11-1-2) since the opening of Sigmar’s turf field in 2011, but the defeat could signal a new beginning for a Pirates team still searching for an identity.
“We have been playing for two and a half years now with the fear of losing here on this field — never lost in two and a half years as a program [men and women], and that’s gone now, and now we know we are going to finish second in the west,” Peninsula men and women’s head soccer coach Kanyon Anderson said.
“We know what our road looks like and we know that who we are at the moment is not good enough to win the NWAC, and we just need to be OK with that and find our identity.”
Wednesday’s match was typical of the Thunderbirds-Pirates rivalry, each team grasping and clawing and contesting every 50/50 ball.
“Highline and Peninsula games are always like this,” Anderson said of the rough play.
“And the men’s game gets to where there’s not a lot of flow to the game.”
The Pirates’ best scoring opportunity of the match came in the game’s 10th minute.
Freshman midfielder Chris Chertude earned a free kick on the far left side of the 18-yard box after a struggle for possession with Highline’s Colton Ronk.
The ball was sent in, and in the scrum Peninsula’s Caio Maciel put a foot on the ball only to see it bounce low off the right goal post.
Neither side could convert on chances until a lapse by the Pirates in the 67th minute.
Peninsula had earned a corner kick and the team pushed up, putting nine players in the offensive side of the field.
Nothing came from the corner and the ball was cleared back to midfield and stolen away by Highline’s Isidro Prado-Huerta.
Prado-Huerta dribbled down the middle of the field, drawing Pirates goalkeeper Aaron Zavolokin to the center of the goal before dishing right to Alex Lewis, who buried it into the net.
“We had nine in the box and the ball skipped out to the back and we had a chance to play a ball back into the box, and instead we played it back to a centerback and put us under pressure,” Anderson said.
“We did that a lot throughout the game; we continued to play the ball back like that when we didn’t have numbers in defense.”
Feeling the pressure, Peninsula began to press offensively — and look for calls and cards that didn’t come from the officiating crew.
These issues worsened when defender Brodi Keefe was whistled for a red card for a foul on a challenge at the top of the box 16 minutes from time.
“[After giving up the goal] I think we were hopeful that something was going to happen, and that’s been something that’s been a slight issue for this team all year — we haven’t handled frustration particularly well,” Anderson said.
Peninsula picked up corners in the 86th and 87th minutes, the Pirates’ best scoring chances late, but couldn’t get a boot or a head on the ball.
They played the last moments of stoppage time down two players after Maciel picked up his second yellow card for an elbow that may have broken Prado-Huerta’s nose.
“We’ve picked up more cards this year than we have in the past, and two red cards today,” Anderson said.
“Those are usually indications that a team isn’t particularly mature about how they are handling the struggle.”
Anderson was left to ponder his team’s recent issues after the game. Peninsula has gone 1-1-2 in its last four matches.
“I don’t know exactly what it is, but I think a big part of it has to do with not playing loose,” Anderson said.
“We have been a team that has been trying not to lose. And we are talented enough that when we go out not to lose we can still get some results.
“I’m hoping now we can say to ourselves, ‘How do we go beat somebody?’
“I think we’ve been trying not to lose instead of focusing on ‘Lets go beat this team.’
“I’m hoping this will take some pressure off of us.”
It was the team’s first defeat since a loss to Northwest College of Wyoming, an NJCAA team, on Sept. 1, 2012, a span of 57 games without a loss.
The Pirates’ last loss to a conference team was in the NWAC semifinals to eventual champion Chemeketa on Nov. 11, 2011. That’s 59 straight conference games without suffering a loss.
Peninsula’s last regular season loss to an NWAC team was Oct. 27, 2010, when the Pirates fell 1-0 to Highline, a streak of 64 games without defeat.
Peninsula will look to start a new streak when it faces Bellevue on Saturday at noon at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
