PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College men’s soccer team found itself in an unfamiliar place Saturday afternoon: trailing with 10 minutes to go.
No problem. The Pirates still managed to kick start their prodigious offense right when they needed it the most and remain undefeated on the season.
Peninsula maintained its grip on first place in the NWAACC West Division, scoring three goals in the final nine minutes to beat Olympic 3-2 before a raucous crowd at Sigmar Field.
The win puts the top-ranked Pirates at 10-0-2 in divisional play and 16-0-2 overall with one match left in the regular season.
All they need now is a win at Bellevue next Saturday or a Highline tie or loss in its next two matches to clinch their third straight West Division title.
“Obviously, we would have rather done it the better way so I didn’t get as many gray hairs, but it was good that we actually had this fight,” Peninsula College men’s coach Andrew Chapman said.
“This one forced us to really make the changes to go after them, and that was good. That was something we need.”
Miguel Gonzalez scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season in 81st and 87th minutes to start and cap a Pirate comeback from 1-0 down.
The sophomore forward scored off a cross from Port Angeles graduate Dustin Walsh to tie the game up at 1-1.
Then, after the Pirates and Rangers traded goals in the 83rd and 86th minutes — Walsh netted the second to tie the game once again at 2-all — Gonzalez found the back of the net once again.
After a takeaway at midfield, Daniel Gonzalez played a ball ahead to Miguel on a breakaway, and the sophomore tapped it past the rushing goalkeeper and walked into the goal.
It was the second assist of the day for Daniel Gonzalez, Miguel’s younger brother, and one that set off a frenzied Pirate crowd that had been on its feet throughout the final 10 minutes.
“It was pretty nuts,” Chapman said.
“It was good at the end for them to really get together and step up and really do the right things.
“I wish they hadn’t waited so long to make it happen, but it was good.”
The Pirates’ offensive onslaught came almost immediately after the coaches moved a defender up into midfield with the team trailing 1-0.
While that did result in another Olympic goal in the 83rd minute — the Rangers’ first came in the 24th — it also spurred the Pirates attack and provided some real theatrics.
“They kept going after them and we made some changes and the guys responded to the changes nicely,” Chapman said.
Peninsula 3, Olympic 2
Olympic 1 1 — 2
Peninsula 0 3 — 3
Scoring Summary
First half: 1, Olympic, Cullen (Horan), 24th.
Second Half: 1, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (Walsh), 81st; 2, Olympic, Horan, 83rd; 2, Peninsula, Walsh (D. Gonzalez), 86th; 3, Peninsula, M. Gonzalez (D. Gonzalez), 87th.
Women’s Soccer
Peninsula 1, Olympic 1
PORT ANGELES — With an NWAACC West Division title already wrapped up, the Pirates played to a tie against the Rangers on Saturday.
Kelsie Ng scored the Pirates’ lone goal off an assist from Kimmy Jones in the 11th minute, but Olympic was able to come up with an equalizer in the 69th.
The tie snapped an 11-match win streak for third-ranked Peninsula (12-1-1 in West, 13-2-3).
The Pirates next host Lower Columbia on Wednesday at 1 p.m.