TUKWILA — It’s a twofer for the Peninsula College men’s and women’s soccer teams.
The Peninsula College men joined the women as champions of the Northwest Athletic Conference, beating Clark 3-0 Sunday night at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila. It was also the first back-to-back championship for either Peninsula College soccer team since 2013.
Earlier in the day, the women beat Bellevue 1-0 in the title game.
Tournament MVP Ezrah Ochoa scored a pair of goals, while Nil Grau, coming off a hamstring injury that kept him out of the quarterfinals and limited him in the semifinals, had a goal and an assist.
Ochoa scored in Friday’s 1-0 semifinal win over Walla Walla and also scored a goal in the quarterfinals last Saturday against Tacoma.
Like the women, the men did not allow a goal in the postseason.
Unlike their past two championships, the men made sure the game did not go to penalty kicks. Last year, Peninsula and Highline went a nerve-wracking 11 rounds of penalty kicks before the Pirates were able to pull the game out.
Grau got the Pirates on the board early in the 22nd minute as he got free behind the defense down the middle of the field. He made perfect shot to the bottom left corner of the goal to make the score 1-0.
Eleven minutes later, Ochoa got his first goal on a corner kick by Edwin Diaz. Ochoa rose well above a crowd of players and hit a perfect header into the goal.
Ochoa scored again in the 56th minute on a sharp-angle shot just inside the box. The Clark goalkeeper got his hands on the ball, but it got through him and into the goal.
Goalkeeper Laurin Lettow made five saves to preserve the shutout and a couple of them late were pretty tough saves. He made a diving stop on a shot in the 77th minute, then had to make another good save in stoppage time after a corner kick.
It was the third championship for head coach Jake Hughes, who led the Pirates to title in 2019. Peninsula also won in 2015, 2013 and 2012.
The men’s and women’s soccer teams have won 12 championships since 2012. The men’s and women’s teams both won championships in 2012 and 2013, but had not done since until this year.
