PREP SOCCER PLAYOFFS: High drama for both PA and Sequim

PORT ANGELES — It was an all-day bonanza of soccer action at Peninsula College on Saturday as Wally Sigmar Field hosted three straight high school playoff matches, one of which went to overtime and the finale going to a nerve-wracking 10-round shootout.

East Jefferson started the day off with a District 3 1A game against Seattle Christian, falling 2-0. Sequim beat Steilacoom 2-1 in overtime and Port Angeles beat Olympic 1-0 (10-9 shootout) in District 3 2A games. Sequim and Port Angeles both move on to the double elimination portion of the District 3 tournament, while East Jefferson had its most successful boys soccer season ever and one of the most successful in either Port Townsend or Chimacum in many years.

Port Angeles 1, Olympic 0 (10-9 shootout)

This game had plenty of action considering neither team could manage a goal in regulation or overtime. The Roughriders had the ball in Olympic end most of the match, especially in the second half, but could never beat the Trojans’ outstanding goalkeeper, Mariano Pena.

“They’re a good team,” said Port Angeles coach Chris Saari. “Our defense bent, but never broke.”

We had some chances, especially in overtime,” Saari said.

Olympic’s best chance came on a corner kick in the first half. The Trojans hit a near-perfect header off the corner that Roughriders’ goalkeeper Gus Halberg got a hand on, knocking the ball off the crossbar. It was a great save, but Halberg had an even bigger one coming later in the match.

In the 69th minute, it briefly appeared Olympic got a go-ahead goal as the Trojans got the ball past Halberg and into the net, but the play was immediately waved off as offsides and there was zero argument from Olympic.

In overtime, the Riders nearly won the game in the first 20 seconds, swarming the front of the net, but Pena was able to gobble the ball up for the first of three amazing saves he made in overtime.

Kanyon Anderson hit two perfect shots and twice he was denied by Pena. Anderson hit a curving rocket from 20 yards out that Pena made a spectacular diving save to keep out. A couple of minutes later, Matthew Miller made a great pass to set Anderson up for another potential game-winner and again, Pena made a diving save to deny him.

The game then went to penalty kicks.

Two or three years ago, the Peninsula College Pirates won an NWAC championship in an 11-round shootout that head coach Jake Hughes said was the longest shootout he had ever witnessed. Port Angeles and Olympic nearly equaled it.

It appeared Pena made a stop on Port Angeles’ first kick by Miller, but the ref ruled that Pena came off the line. Miller nailed the re-kick. Halberg nearly got a save on Olympic’s first kick, but the ball squirted through him and in.

After those two near-blocks, players from both teams made their shots easily over the next several rounds. Making their shots for Port Angeles were Anderson, Jake Weaver, Taihvan Lyle, Grant Butterworth, Caleb Lagrange, Oliver Martinez and Roldan Lara.

Finally, on the 10th shot, Halberg made a diving save, punching the ball high in the air and out. Halberg, who never played high school soccer until this season, then had to take the 10th penalty shot and calmly got the ball past Pena to win the game.

Halberg, a senior whose best sport is basketball, never played high school soccer until this year. He said his adrenaline got flowing harder with each penalty kick.

“I had the confidence on each shot I was going to make the save,” he said.

Amazingly, it was his first-ever penalty kick other than in practice, so it was not only the biggest save he had ever made in his career, it was the biggest goal, as well.

Port Angeles (11-6 overall) moves on play North Kitsap (13-3) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the second round.

Sequim 2, Steilacoom 1, OT

The Sequim soccer team likewise had a thriller against Steilacoom. The Wolves quickly got up 1-0 with a Nico Musso goal in the game’s sixth minute.

That lead held up nearly the entire match. Steilacoom had couple of golden chances late in regulation as a header off a free kick went off keeper Nolan Valenzuela’s hand and off the crossbar. Valenzuela also made a couple of other diving saves in the second half, including one in which he had to dive one direction and then back in the other direction as a Steilacoom player swooped in on the rebound.

Steilacoom finally broke through in the 75th minute when Valenzuela was able to block the shot, but the rebound got away from him and the Sentinels this time were able to knock the ball in for a goal.

That led to overtime. In the fourth minute, Josh Alcaraz made a great through pass to a streaking Evan Cisneros who got past the defense onside and kicked the ball in to give the Wolves the lead.

Coach Dave Breckenridge said that in the overtime, “Sequim just wanted it more than they did.”

“It was good to see Evan score,” Breckenridge said. He said that while Valenzuela made the one mistake letting a rebound get away from him, he “played fantastic” for the rest of the game.

The Wolves had to play another six minutes as there was a lot of confusion among the officials about whether a playoff game has a golden goal (sudden death) rule. It was also an issue during the Port Angeles game, which played under the golden goal rule after considerable debate.

While it appears Sequim had to play an extra six minutes it shouldn’t have had to play, fortunately, it didn’t affect the final result as the Wolves hung on for the 2-1 victory.

With the victory, the Wolves (7-8, 7-8) move on to play at No. 2-ranked Bainbridge (14-0, 16-0) on Tuesday. Breckenridge said the Wolves will be loose for that game, knowing they are in the double-elimination phase of the district tournament and knowing they will move on to play another game win or lose.

“There’s things we’ll work on to get better,” he said.

Seattle Christian 2, East Jefferson 0

East Jefferson had the ball in Seattle Christian’s end much of the second half with only 10 players, but couldn’t break through for a score against the Warriors.

The Rivals went to 10 men when Simon Barlow picked up a second yellow. The back line of Jameson Henery and Armando Sanchez played well, with Sanchez making a number of perfect slide tackles to take the ball away from Seattle Christian players.

Coach Logan Stegner said the team started too slowly against the Warriors, who got both of their goals in the first 45 minutes.

Overall, Stegner said he was pleased with the Rivals’ season, which ended with a solid record of 10-5-2, the best record for the program since Port Townsend and Chimacum combined.

“I’m really proud with how far they came this year. They beat a couple of 2A teams (Port Angeles and North Mason), they hung in there against Cascade Christian (15-1-0, ranked No. 4 among 1A teams) until the last 40 seconds. I’m super, super proud of these kids,” Stegner said.

Columbia (White Salmon) 6, Forks 0

WHITE SALMON — The Forks soccer team lost its District 4 1A opener against an undefeated Columbia (White Salmon) team 6-0.

The Spartans (10-8-0) will play in a loser-out consolation bracket game at Rochester (12-6-0) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.