BREMERTON — This time, it’s for much more than bragging rights.
Both the Sequim and Port Angeles girls’ soccer teams were shut out in their West Central District playoff matches, setting up a rubber match contest tonight between the Wolves and Roughriders, with the winner going to the State 2A girls soccer tournament.
Sequim (11-7), the No. 3 seed from the Olympic League 2A Division, was beaten by a 15-1-2 White River squad 5-0 Tuesday. Meanwhile, Port Angeles (9-8), the No. 4 seed out of the Olympic League 2A Division, lost to No. 1 seed Fife (16-1 overall) 4-0.
That sets up a loser out/winner to state match between Sequim and Port Angeles at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Silverdale Stadium. (The game was originally scheduled to be played in Tacoma, but was moved closer to the North Olympic Peninsula.) The two evenly matched squads have already split two matches this season in Olympic League play. The Wolves first beat the Riders 1-0 on penalty kicks at Civic Field, while Port Angeles came back to win 4-1 later in the season at Sequim.
Whoever wins will make history. The Wolves have never qualified for state, while the Riders have not made it to the state tournament since 1986.
“It’s great to see Port Angeles and Sequim face each other again in a late season game with so much at stake,” said Port Angeles coach Scott Moseley.
Moseley also said Peninsula College’s powerhouse soccer programs have benefited the prep teams on the North Peninsula.
“It reflects the hard work that the girls from both programs have put into soccer over the past years. Peninsula College’s support of our players and the local youth soccer community is another reason why both schools are playing soccer late in the playoffs,” Moseley said.
The winner of this match will go on to play another district match at 7 p.m. Saturday at Fife High School for state seeding position against the winner of a Orting-Highline match.
The loser is done for the year.
In the Port Angeles match, the Riders gave up goals in the sixth, 34th, 40th and 63rd minutes to the Trojans. Fife outshot Port Angeles 9-1.
Moseley said Port Angeles simply couldn’t generate much offense due to Fife’s faster defense.
“Fife controlled the ball really well in the midfield and we struggled to gain possession from them. There is a reason they are 16-1 for the year — great first touch, speed and accurate shooting,” Moseley said.
Volleyball Bellevue Christian 3, Chimacum 0
COUPEVILLE — The Cowboys finished their season last night with a 3-0 first-round West Central District 1A loss to Bellevue Christian.
Chimacum (7-9) lost the play-in match 25-10, 25-10, 25-15. Coach James Shingleton said, “It really came down to too many passing errors.”
“We sent some over-passes to their middle blocker that capitalized on those errors. We had a surge in the third set and led for a bit but the Vikings took a time out and came back strong to put the final set away,” he said.
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Compiled from team reports