WOMEN’S COLLEGE SOCCER: Peninsula women win 1-0 in OT to return to Final Four

PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women, facing a team that was packing its entire squad in the defensive end in an apparent attempt to force penalty kicks, got a clutch goal in the sixth minute of the first overtime to defeat North Idaho 1-0 for a return trip to the NWAC Final Four in Tukwila.

The women missed out on the Final Four last year.

The Pirates dominated possession and ended up with 18 shots on goal to four for the Cardinals, though North Idaho did get off a couple of pretty dangerous shots.

“That’s soccer. It’s an interesting game,” said coach Kanyon Anderson, on how the Pirates dominated play but simply had trouble getting a goal. Peninsula also had players injured as Shawna Larson was playing with a cast on her broken hand and one of their leading goal-scorers, Briana-Jean Tanaka, was on crutches after injuring her knee in practice.

Anderson was also proud that the game’s winner came from Elliana Barden, who is from Cheney, his hometown. “It’s a town of winners,” Anderson said.

The game-winning goal came on beautiful passing from a pair of Pirates. Sydney Soskis beat a defender then made a nice back-foot pass to Larson in the corner. Larson then hit a perfect cross to a wide open Barden, who calmly knocked the ball in the net, sparking a huge celebration on the field. Larson got the assist, but Soskis’ play was just as important.

“We practice that play in every single practice,” Barden said. “I didn’t think that it would happen in such a big game.”

The Pirates came in to the contest ranked No. 1 in the NWAC and No. 1 in a national coaches’ poll. North Idaho (13-5-4) came in as the No. 3 team out of the NWAC East, but had allowed only 13 goals all year.

There were several close calls early as the game was wide open to begin with. The Pirates nearly got goals on two chances on a dangerous corner kick in the first minute. A high shot required a leaping save by Cardinals’ keeper Kaycee Chavez and a header on the rebound nearly went in. In the 25th minute, a high shot by Port Angeles’ Anna Petty went off the crossbar.

North Idaho didn’t get many chances, but the Cardinals did hit the crossbar twice off two headers in the 32nd minute. Five minutes later, the Cardinals’ Faith George got free downfield and hit a high shot that also went off the crossbar. The score could have easily been 2-0 North Idaho at that point, but the Pirates were fortunate to still be in a scoreless tie.

Disaster nearly struck for the Pirates in the 90th minute as North Idaho finally had a serious scoring chance on a corner kick. The shot went over keeper Talia Marini’s head, but she was able to turn and grab the ball before it bounced into the net.

Peninsula (16-0-2) will now play Spokane in the NWAC semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila. Spokane (12-2-4) is the defending NWAC champion and knocked the Pirates out of the playoffs last year.