TUKWILA — A focused Peninsula College women’s soccer team opened up a 2-0 halftime lead and held on for a 3-1 victory over the North Idaho Cardinals in the Northwest Athletic Conference Semifinals at Starfire Soccer Complex.

After Friday’s triumph the Pirates are back where they feel they belong: playing in the NWAC championship for the fifth time in six seasons and hoping to come away with the program’s third title.

Peninsula (18-1-1) will face Highline (17-2-0) for the conference championship today at 2:30 p.m.

“I thought we had a really good first half,” Pirates coach Kanyon Anderson said of the semifinal victory.

“We came out and played pretty calm in the beginning. Often times there are nerves in the first few minutes of games like this. But we were able to establish a rhythm and get a lot of corner kicks, and we outshot them, so it made for a pretty dominant first half.”

Sydney Warren put Peninsula ahead 1-0 in the 16th minute, scoring off an assist by Hoku Afong.

“We had high pressure on their back line and we were able to counterattack quickly and Sydney made a fantastic, lofted shot to the back corner on one touch,” Anderson said.

“It was a really skillful goal and it came off a great pass from Hoku. She picked Sydney out of the crowd.”

Peninsula’s second score came in the 40th minute in the aftermath of one of the Pirates’ seven first-half corner kicks.

“We had been building toward that goal,” Anderson said.

“It came off a series of corner kicks. It was a nice play by the [North Idaho] goalkeeper, but the ball kind of laid there on the ground and Bri Vallente kind of scored on a back heel. It wasn’t a fancy back heel, she topped it in. It was an ugly play, but that goal had been coming.”

Peninsula took a two-goal lead into the break.

“We went in up 2-0, and so we talked about North Idaho coming back out and fighting really hard,” Anderson said.

“They played a lot more direct with every ball in the second half and we didn’t handle that very well.”

The Cardinals’ Megan Lowery scored in the 77th minute to make it a 2-1 Peninsula lead.

But the Pirates answered soon after, as Vallente scored her second goal of the match in the 82nd minute off an assist by Audrey Barham to see Peninsula through.

“We scored off a corner kick five minutes later to essentially end the game,” Anderson said.

“It was nice to see how our team responds to that late-game pressure. We haven’t given up a lot of goals either, but we raised our game and played a little more intelligently and kept the ball out of our defensive third. “We were a little too casual at the start of the second half but we finished it out.”

Anderson was pleased to see Vallente score twice as the sophomore has dealt with a nagging ankle injury for much of the season.

“It was nice for Bri to get two goals because she’s had an ankle injury, a high-ankle sprain that took a long time to get back from,” he said.

“I thought Hoku and Audrey looked really good. Our entire midfield core played well. Jasmine Ramos came in and really helped us take the game over. She’s the equivalent of the sixth man in basketball for us and we bring her in when we want to make adjustments in how we play. And when we put her in against North Idaho the game tilted in our favor.”

Now the Pirates face the Thunderbirds, the lone team to beat Peninsula on the season.

Highline won 2-1 in the NWAC Friendlies back in August. The T-Birds are nearly as stingy as Peninsula defensively. The Pirates have allowed just six goals all season and Highline is second in least goals allowed with nine.

“I don’t really think it will be an all-defensive battle,” Anderson said.

“I think both teams attack well, so I don’t expect it to go 0-0 for 90 minutes. Highline is a good team, we’ve known that all season. At the start of the season thought it was us, Spokane and Highline [in the title chase].”

Anderson said the Thunderbirds are talented at every position group and have a standout goalkeeper in Rachel Thompson and a strong central midfield led by Chentay Warnes.

“Warnes is a dangerous player,” Anderson said.

“And their goalkeeper made a fantastic save in the semifinal to keep Spokane off the board early.”

A change in scheduling this year gives teams a day of rest before the championship. Previously, semifinal contests were played Saturday and championship games followed on Sunday.

“It is better for everyone,” Anderson said.

“A lot of the time you couldn’t even game plan for the championship game, you’d just have to go out and play, so whatever team had an easier semifinal usually won the championship. It will be more even this year.”

Clinching another championship appearance also put the only coach in the history of the Peninsula women’s program in a reflective mood.

“Missing it last year [when the Pirates lost in the semifinals] made me realize how much of an accomplishment it really is to make five championship games in six seasons,” Anderson said.