PORT ANGELES — A fast start highlighted by Paige Mason’s early goal gave Port Angeles some early confidence and the Roughriders rolled to a 4-0 Olympic League girls soccer shutout of Bremerton at Wally Sigmar Field on Tuesday.
“We were in control the majority of the match,” coach Daniel Horton said. “We were able to score early, and in a lot of our games, it takes some time to find our offense.”
Mason got the Riders going with the first of her two goals.
“It wasn’t one of her 35-yarders,” Horton said of Mason’s penchant for deep shots on goal. “Our striker Kedryn Descala made a nice pass into the 18 and from about 8 or 9 yards she put a solid face on it into the net.”
Izzy Felton put Port Angeles up 2-0 at halftime.
“In the 35th minute, Izzy Felton drew a penalty kick,” Horton said. “She made a good run down the field, took it wide, was fouled just inside the box and made the penalty.
“Between the goals, I thought we were controlling play. We were playing a lot of good passes and combos in the middle. So the halftime message was to keep that up, but pick up our intensity a little bit and give ourselves a cushion in the second half, and they went and did that.”
Mason added her second goal in the 56th minute.
“Teanna Clark sent in a ball from the corner, Izzy got the assist on it, but Paige scored, it bounced off her leg into goal,” Horton said.
Mason assisted on Descala’s 75th-minute goal.
“Paige sent a nice through ball on the ground, their goalie came out and Kedryn did a nice job of staying calm on the kick,” Horton said.
“Paige played really well in the middle, tracking back on defense, distributing the ball to our striker, outside midfielders. She played a good, confident game for us.”
Horton said Bremerton settled for a lot of deep shots as the Riders preserved a shutout for goalkeeper Kennedy Rognlien.
“Our central defenders, Maeve Croteau and Ava Anne-Sheahan, were vocal, active, pushing up offensively. Ava took the ball and ate up some space and put pressure on Bremerton, able to do that because she is comfortable with Maeve sliding over. Nice to see them dominate in the middle.”
Port Angeles (4-4-0) visits Kingston (2-4-0) tonight.