PORT ANGELES — The Sequim girls soccer team showed on a wet night at Wally Sigmar Field on Tuesday that it has a lot of depth behind scoring star Taryn Johnson.
Port Angeles kept Johnson in check, holding her to zero goals and one assist, but Wolves’ midfielder Jenny Gomez had a pair of spectacular goals and Kiley Winter added a late goal in stoppage time for a 3-0 win over a young Roughriders squad that played tough all match.
With the victory, the Wolves (8-1, 24 points) move into a tie with Bainbridge for second place in the Olympic League standings. Sequim also moved up to 10th in the state in Ratings Percentage Index among 2A schools.
Port Angeles, a young team with 11 sophomores and freshmen and only five seniors and juniors, dropped to 5-5 in league in fourth place, very much in playoff contention.
Sequim goalkeeper Kalli Grove clutches the ball after withstanding a Port Angeles shot Tuesday night at Wally Sigmar Field. In on the play are Port Angeles’ Pyper Alton, lower left, and Sequim’s Amara Gonzalez, center, on Tuesday in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Gomez scored her first goal in the sixth minute in the pouring rain with a powerful shot from 25 yards out at a sharp angle, going high to put the ball into the far end of the net. She had an even better goal in the 37th minute, again from well out, perfectly hooking the ball from the left center of the field off the right post and in. That was all the offense that the Wolves needed as their defense clamped down and only allowed a couple of serious scoring chances for the Riders.
“We encourage her to take those shots,” said Sequim coach Ken Garling.
“I’m very proud of this team. We’re fighting well and working well as a unit and they’re representing the school well out there,” Garling said.
“Our level of play is up here right now,” Gomez said, holding her hand at eye-level. “We have the drive the win every game.”
Gomez said she has always worked on her long shots. She said that when she played youth soccer for her dad, Javier Gomez, she was told to take advantage of her powerful shot.
“When I was little, I would shoot from far away,” Gomez said.
It was a bit of a chippy game with a lot of collisions and a total of 10 yellow cards against both teams, all in the second half. There were no red cards.
“We expected a competitive game. I didn’t expect that many yellow cards,” said Port Angeles coach Dan Horton. Still, he felt it was simply a spirited game.
“These kids all know each other so they both want it so bad,” he said.
Horton thought the Riders got off to a slow start.
“We knew we would have to have a good start. We didn’t play our best soccer in the first half,” he said. “We played a better game in the second half. They just outplayed us.”
The Riders did have a couple of good chances. The best came in the first half on a cross from Izzy Felton right on Paige Mason’s foot. Mason’s shot went just a little too high and clanked off the crossbar.
“If that had gone in, it would have been a good momentum changer,” Horton said.
Felton had another good scoring chance a few minutes later on a perfect free kick from Maeve Croteau that got through the Sequim defense and just missed a wide open Felton.
Port Angeles goalkeeper Kennedy Rognlien made a spectacular diving fingertip save on a shot what looked like a sure Sequim goal in the 54th minute.
The game looked like it was headed for a 2-0 final when the Wolves picked up a goal in stoppage time on an unusual shot from Kiley Winter. She shot the ball from a sharp angle only a yard or two from the end line. But she hit it high and it went off Rognlien’s outstretched hands for a goal.
Johnson, who came in to the game with 20 goals, was kept off the scoreboard but she had an assist, as did Raimey Brewer on Gomez’s second goal. Sequim keeper Kalli Grove earned the shutout.
The one down side for the Wolves is that defensive player Ivy Barrett badly rolled an ankle in the first half and had to be carried off the field. She was not able to return and was unable to put weight on the ankle after the game.
Sequim next hosts Olympic (0-9, 0-10-1) at 6:45 p.m. in a game the Wolves should win, then they have a monster game next Tuesday at first-place North Kitsap (10-0, 10-1). The first time the Wolves and Vikings played, North Kitsap won 3-2.
Port Angeles hosts North Mason (1-9, 2-9) at 7:15 p.m. today looking to strengthen its postseason position.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles’ Pyper Alton, left, is defended by Sequim’s Olive Bridge, center and Kaia Lestage, right, on Tuesday night at Peninsula College.
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Sequim’s Ivy Barrett, front, dribbles past Port Angeles’ Kedryn DeScala during Tuesday’s match at Peninsula College in Port Angeles.
Sequim’s Kiley Winter, front, races for the ball with Port Angeles’ Paige Mason on Tuesday night at Peninsula College. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
