PORT ANGELES — Be prepared to “rumble” and cheer on some of the best soccer teams in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, April 27, when Peninsula College hosts a Rumble in the Rainforest soccer exhibition extravaganza at Sigmar Field.
The Rumble is a benefit for the Peninsula College soccer program.
The day will kick off at 9 a.m. on Sigmar Field with an exhibition match between the men’s teams of Saint Martin’s College and the Pirates.
This match will be followed at 10:50 a.m. with a match between the women of Saint Martin’s and the Peninsula College women.
Men’s soccer dominates the rest of the day, continuing at 12:40 p.m. when Saint Martin’s goes up against the Kitsap Pumas.
At 2 p.m. the Victoria Highlanders face off against the University of Washington, followed by a 3:50 p.m. match pitting the Kitsap Pumas against Seattle University.
The Peninsula College men take the field again at 5 p.m. to challenge the Kitsap Pumas, and the last match of the day at 6 p.m. pits Seattle University against the Victoria Highlanders.
Car show
In between the world-class soccer games, there will be plenty else to do on campus.
Soccer fans and car lovers are invited to visit the free Car Show, hosted by the Peninsula College Auto Shop and Wilder Auto.
For the children, there will be a special free Kids’ Zone, sponsored by the Peninsula Boys & Girls Clubs.
And everyone is invited to try out food and drink from the vendors who will be on hand to sell some real crowd-pleasers to the hungry and thirsty.
Vendors include Toga’s Soup House, The Next Door Gastropub and the Pepsi wagon, which will be staffed by members of Port Angeles Youth Soccer serving soda, hot dogs and candy.
No outside food or beverages are permitted.
Admission
The price of admission includes In/Out privileges throughout the day.
Children 8 and younger are free. Tickets for youths ages 9 to 15 are $5; admission for those 16 years and older is $10.
A family of four or more will be admitted for $30.
The teams
The Kitsap Pumas are an American professional soccer team based in Bremerton. Founded in 2008, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference.
The Pumas are the 2011 PDL champions.
The Victoria Highlanders FC also plays in the USL Premier Development League (PDL).
Highlanders FC players are Canadian CIS and NCAA Division I college players, Canadian U20 National Team players, Vancouver Island players, and recruited players from around the world.
Saint Martins’ teams participate in the NCAA’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference at the Division II level.
In 2009, the men’s soccer team seized the first team title in any sport for Saint Martin’s University, winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference
The Seattle Redhawks are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams of Seattle University and compete in the Western Athletic Conference and are a NCAA DI program.
Former Peninsula standout player Miguel Gonzalez currently plays for the Redhawks back on Wally Sigmar field.
The Peninsula College women’s and men’s teams are the defending Northwest Athletic Association of Community College champions.
They play their regular season in the fall and are allowed a short exhibition season each spring.
The Pirate women and men each won 22 games last fall, tied one and lost one en route to becoming the first NWAACC double winner since 1999.
It was the first NWAACC championship in the history of women’s athletics at Peninsula College and the second for the Pirate men’s soccer team, which also won it in the fall of 2010.
The sponsors
Local sponsors for the rumble in the Rainforest include Windermere Realty, State Farm Insurance, Peninsula Boys & Girls Clubs, High Energy Metals, The Next Door Gastropub, Toga’s Soup House, Olympic Medical Physicians, Pepsi — Peninsula Bottling Co., 7 Cedars Casino, Wilder Auto and Therapeutic Associates.