BREMERTON — Paige Mason’s strike with three minutes remaining broke a 1-1 tie and ultimately lifted Port Angeles to a 2-1 Olympic League girls soccer match on the road Tuesday.
“Paige Mason was about 30 yards out dead middle of the field and she fired one in just under the crossbar,” coach Daniel Horton said. “It felt good to see her hit that. She’s such a pivotal part of who we are.”
Horton said the Roughriders felt thankful to come away with the hard-fought victory, which snapped a two-game losing skid.
“It wasn’t easy,” Horton said. “Bremerton came out and pounced and tested us, and we still were able to grind it out. We just were not super comfortable for most of the game.”
Port Angeles gave up the first score almost immediately.
“We turned the ball over at beginning of game, and their best player, No. 14, she was so outside and at such a tough angle to shoot, sent in a ball that didn’t come down until it hit the upper 90 [degrees of the goal post] and dropped in,” Horton said.
“That gave Bremerton a jolt of energy and we looked stunned.
“We settled down for a few minutes and made a good passing combo through the middle and found Anna [Petty] on a run. We made soccer look really difficult for most of the half, and for that 30 seconds, made it look easy.”
Horton said Bremerton didn’t go away, continuing to send in deep balls down the field and at goalkeeper Saylah Commerton.
“They were pulling the trigger from so far away, Saylah could handle them,” Horton said.
“It would have been nice to see us mellow out, but we were able to scratch and claw and stay in it and get the winner late.”
Port Angeles (5-2-0) hosts Kingston (0-7-0) tonight at Wally Sigmar Field.
Sequim 2, Kingston 0
KINGSTON — The Wolves put a slow first half behind them with a pair of Taryn Johnson goals in the second half to beat the cellar-dwelling Buccaneers on the road Tuesday.
“First half we started out a little slow and disconnected,” coach Ken Garling said. “Kingston put numbers in the middle, and we weren’t using our width to spread the field.
Sequim drew a penalty kick just after the break in the 42nd minute.
“Jenny Gomez made a great move to beat their central defender, then controlled the ball around the keeper and in the process she got fouled,” Garling said.
“Taryn Johnson stepped up and buried the PK.”
Garling said the Wolves were able to string together possession and passes and set up an insurance goal in the 63rd minute off of a corner kick
“Raimey Brewer put in the corner, a scrum resulted and Taryn got on the end of it and was able to poke it in,” Garling said. “At that point, we were able to rest some starters and play some reserves and keep the clean sheet.”
Sequim (4-3-0) hosts North Mason (1-6-0, 1-7-0) tonight at 7 p.m.
East Jefferson 5, Life Christian 1
STEILACOOM — The Rivals earned a road win over a shorthanded Eagles team.
“We played an 8-on-8 game because that is all the players they had,” East Jefferson coach Rob Cantley said. “We shortened up the field and it was really more of a training game.”
Cantley said Ava Shiflett played a hand in all five Rivals’ goals, scoring East Jefferson’s first and final goals and assisting on three more scores.
Shiflett assisted on Iris Mattern’s first-half goal and Leah Harrison’s second-half brace as the Rivals (4-2-2) moved into third place in the Nisqually League.
The Rivals host fourth-place Annie Wright (4-2-1) tonight.
