TACOMA — Sequim survived the consolation bracket and advanced to the Class 2A boys soccer state tournament for the first time since 2010 with a late score in a 2-1 win over Washington on Saturday at Franklin Pierce High School.
Spanish exchange student Hayuk Minano scored the game winner with just two minutes remaining in regulation as the Wolves triumphed and earned the fifth seed out of the West Central District Tournament.
The Wolves (13-5-2) will face Toppenish (15-3-0) the top seed out of the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC), this week in the state tournament — likely in the Yakima area.
Sequim coach Dave Brasher said the game-winning goal came about after a “great buildup.”
“Adrian Funston took the ball up the left side and Evan James overlapped him and put a cross in [toward the goal],” Brasher said.
Sequim sophomore then Ryan Tolberd played decoy and let the ball scoot past without a touch.
“Ryan Tolberd let it go through and the ball went to Hayuk Minano at about the six-yard mark and he got it past the goalie,” Brasher said.
“We finally settled it down and the goal at the end was really nice. It was great passing and an excellent finish.”
Brasher said the team celebrated its achievement with an “On to state” chant.
Tolberd put Sequim up 1-0 in the 11th minute.
“We played pretty well in the first half,” Brasher said. “We got our first goal in the 11th minute when Funston cut it to Tolberd and he drilled a shot to the right corner.”
The Wolves allowed the equalizer seven minutes into the second half on a “flukey little goal” and the game turned ugly, Brasher said.
“It was the third game in five days for each team and both teams were getting tired. It wasn’t very pretty.”
Brasher said Chris Morgan and Mathew Craig played well on the back line and Liam Stevenson was solid in goal.
Brasher named senior midfielder Liam Harris was the team’s man of the match for his great play in the middle.
Sequim 2, Kingston 1
Sequim eliminated Olympic League champion Kingston from the Class 2A West Central District Tournament with a strong defensive performance in a 2-1 victory Thursday night at Silverdale Stadium.
The Wolves (13-5-2) went on to beat Washington (13-5-2) 2-1 late Saturday on a late goal for the fifth and final berth to the 2A state tournament.
Thursday’s win was Sequim’s second win in three games against the Buccaneers this season.
“We had that tough one that cost us the league title, so to knock them out in convincing fashion did feel pretty good,” Brasher said.
“I thought we had most of the play during the game and we scored early in the sixth minute.”
Wolves sophomore forward Ryan Tolberd set up the first score.
“Ryan Tolberd had a 50/50 ball with the keeper coming out and the keeper knocked it off him to the right and Hayuk [Minano] was there and he finished it to the open goal.”
Brasher said Sequim’s speed, a team strength, was apparent from the outset.
“Our speed was showing early,” Brasher said. “Ryan had another chance at a goal but put it wide and the game settled down a bit after that and [Kingston] started to play better.”
The Buccaneers tied it up in the 29th minute.
“Nick Janikic was in goal and they scored on a long free kick when it dropped down and they finished it off,” Brasher said.
Sequim reclaimed the lead for good six minutes into the second half.
“We scored the go-ahead goal in the 46th minute on a corner kick,” Brasher said. “Hayuk took the corner and Tolberd got the header goal.”
Brasher said the Wolves didn’t just sit back and defend their one-goal lead, but looked for an insurance score in the game’s final 34 minutes.
“We were trying not to repeat what happened against Highline [in their previous district game, a 3-2 loss],” Brasher said. “We tried to be aggressive and go afafter the third goal and we had chances — Adrian [Funston] put one wide in the 50th and we had a nice chance that Mike McAleer nearly scored on in the 64th.”
Sequim’s defense held fast — led by Mathew Craig, who Brasher named as his man of the match, and Chris Morgan.
“Mathew Craig had a great game in the back,” Brasher said. “He was organizing the defense and winning balls in the air. He was excited.”
“Chris Morgan came into the game and had a couple of nice clearouts.”
Washington 2, Port Angeles 1 (6-5 PKs)
TACOMA — The Roughriders saw their season come to a close in a 6-5 penalty kick shootout loss to the Patriots in the Class 2A West Central District Tournament at Franklin Pierce High School on Thursday.
“[We] had two shots saved by Patriots’ goalie Peiyton Hilliard in the shootout,” Port Angeles coach Chris Saari said.
“Port Angeles goalie Michael Scott came up with a big save on the fifth kick to keep [us] in the shootout, but Hilliard got his second save on the Riders seventh shot to give Washington the penalty kick win.
“It was a tough way to end the season. Port Angeles (11-7-1) graduates 10 seniors from the program and should return six starters for the 2019 season.”
Saari said Washington took a 1-0 lead into halftime after a late defensive breakdown by the Riders.
“We allowed a sloppy goal on a failed corner kick clearance miscommunication in the 34th minute,” Saari said. [We] had been controlling the game and the majority of the possession, but allowed Washington to go into half up 1-0.”
Port Angeles switched tactics in the second half, moving to a three fullback lineup, and Saari said the Riders dominated.
“We outshot the patriots and applied a lot of pressure on the Washington goal,” Saari said. “The Riders finally got the equalizer in the 56th minute on a corner kick goal by Kenny Soule, assisted by Ben Schneider.
“Kenny crashed into the 6-yard box hard and smashed the ball in with defenders challenging.
Saari said Aldair Ramirez’s play for PA was key to their passing game success in the 2nd half.
The Riders continued the pressure into the sudden death overtime periods but were unable to score and the game was decided in the shootout.
Saari named Soule as his offensive player of the match, Scott as his defensive player and Ramirez as his transition player of the game.
