PORT ANGELES — Defensive lapses kept the Peninsula College men’s soccer team from pulling away from feisty Everett until late in a 7-3 NWAC North Division win.
“It wasn’t a great defensive performance,” Pirates coach Cale Rodriguez said after Saturday’s game at Wally Sigmar Field.
“And for us, if we want to be a team that has success and plays like the defense of the year, we have to be better on that side of the ball.”
The breakdowns in defense took some of the luster off an offensive outburst highlighted by four goals and an assist from Jonathan Martinez.
Other offensive fireworks came in the form of two goals from Keo Ponce, three assists from Eddie Benito and two more from Jonathan Vasquez.
“Up top, we worked fantastic today,” Martinez said.
“We had some really good combinations that led to the goals.”
While not pleased with having the Northwest Athletic Conference North Division-leading Pirates concede three goals to the winless and last-place Trojans, especially at home, Rodriguez did like the offensive output.
“It’s all about outscoring the other team, and we were able to score a good amount of goals today. So I am happy to see that, but still frustrated we gave up three,” Rodriguez said.
Martinez’s performance stood out.
“It’s good to see a player have an impact on a game like that, both in goals and assists,” Rodriguez said.
“He’s a special player and it was good to see him, I don’t want to say break through because we knew it was there all along, but to see him really shine was nice to see.
“He’s obviously dangerous and he will continue to be a target player for us.”
Martinez helped Peninsula score first in the 11th minute.
He sent a ball up the field to Benito, who then dribbled up the left side of the field and drew Everett goalkeeper Sergio Barrera to the left post.
With the keeper committed, Benito sent a soft pass to a charging Ponce, who tapped the ball into the net.
“It was nice to see our top players looking to be facilitators,” Rodriguez said.
“Eddie probably could have taken the shot there.
“Good to see them being unselfish. And like I tell the guys, it’s not about individual stats and where they are going next, it’s about the team right here.”
Everett tied the score when a free kick deflected off a Peninsula player and into the net in the 32nd minute.
The game remained tied 1-1 at halftime.
Martinez got on the board in the 50th minute for Peninsula, fighting for inside positioning with a Trojans defender and cleanly beating Barrera.
But Everett was undaunted. Seven minutes later, Brendan Aune cleaned up a mess inside the goal box to knot the score at 2-2.
Ponce scored his second goal in the 60th minute, taking advantage of confusion over an apparently injured player.
Then Martinez then took over, notching two more goals, in the 69th and 74th minutes, to put Peninsula up 5-2.
Game over, right?
Not quite. The Pirates gave up their second own goal in the 78th minute to cut the advantage to 5-3 and keep Everett in the match.
“We weren’t focused, honestly,” Martinez said.
“We were not on top of our game. We probably thought we had this game easily won already, and some of our players went into the game with that mentality.
“But I feel like every game we should never look down on an opponent and try to score as many goals as we can.”
Martinez stuck to that approach, imploring his team to keep pushing forward late in the match.
He kept up the attack, sending a right-to-left cross into the goal box that was headed into the goal by Joe Sorensen in the 81st minute.
Martinez added his fourth goal off an assist from Benito in the 89th minute.
“I connect with Eddie pretty well,” Martinez said.
“I feel like he and I always do well together, but without my team I wouldn’t have scored the goals.”
Peninsula (6-0-1, 8-1-2) is five points ahead of Whatcom in the NWAC North standings and is ranked second in the latest NWAC coaches poll behind Highline.
The Pirates will look for a better defensive performance on the road at Skagit Valley (2-4-1, 2-6-1) on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to come out with a better mentality. And it doesn’t matter who we play, we have to put our stamp on the game,” Rodriguez said.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
