By Pierre LaBossiere

Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula women and men got their long homestand off to a solid start, each pitching a shutout against Skagit Valley at Sigmar Field.

The Pirate women beat the Cardinals 3-0, while the men won 2-0 in Wednesday’s matches, which begin a five-game homestand for both teams.

The victories keep the women in first place in the North Division of the NWAC and the men in second place, just one point behind first-place Whatcom, which comes to Sigmar Field on Saturday for a titanic match in what has become a fierce rivalry over the past year.

The women got an unassisted goal from Kayla Alcott in the 37th minute to take a 1-0 lead into the half. The Pirates then opened up the lead very quickly in the second half, as Alcott assisted on a Samantha Oliveria goal in the 46th minute. Sammay Howa added an insurance goal in the 66th minute, with the assist going to Jordan Zarate.

The Pirates outshot the Cardinals 19-4. Peninsula goalie Andrea Kenagy had to make just one save.

It was the women’s third straight shutout and their seventh shutout overall, as the Pirates have given up just two goals in seven league matches. In fact, after losing their first preconference match 4-2, the women have outscored their opponents 49-4 over their past 11 matches.

The Peninsula women (7-0-1 22 points, 9-2-1 overall) next play at noon Saturday against Whatcom (4-3-1, 5-5-1).

Men’s Soccer Peninsula 2, Skagit Valley 0

The Pirates got a goal less than 90 seconds into the match against the Cardinals and that turned out to be enough as the Pirates went on to win 2-0.

Hide Inoue scored a goal in the second minute unassisted. The Pirates scored quickly in the second half, as well, as Jonathan Bicknell scored in the 46th minute on an assist from Edgar Tavares.

This was not an easy win as the Pirates outshot the Cardinals just 11-7. Pirates goalkeep was forced to make four saves to preserve the shutout.

It was the men’s seventh shutout and their fifth shutout in North Division play.

The victory sets up a huge match at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sigmar Field as powerful Whatcom comes to visit.

Peninsula is 6-1-1 in division play (19 points), while Whatcom is 6-0-2 (20 points). When the two teams met earlier this season at Whatcom, the game ended in a 0-0 tie.

Whatcom in 2017 played for the NWAC championship, losing 1-0 to Highline. Last season, Whatcom and Peninsula tied twice (2-2 and 3-3) and in a rubber match in November 2017 at Sigmar for the North Division title, Whatcom won 3-2 on a corner kick and header in the final minutes of the match.

Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Peninsula’s Hide Inoue, front, cuts off Skagit Valley’s Cameron Orestad in the first half on Wednesday in Port Angeles.