Coupeville Sports

Micky LeVine, seen here tracking a ball during her high school season, may be relatively small, but she packs a punch. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Ride together, die together.

Like a biker gang, but with much better fashion sense, the booters who form the GU17 Whidbey Islanders soccer squad defend their own. Mess with one of them and you will have five to answer to. Really mess with them and you’re going to meet Micky “The Enforcer” LeVine.

You’re not going to enjoy that.

Playing a very aggressive Milton team on the road in a match that started rough and then turned painful Sunday, the moment that will be remembered longest is the diminutive LeVine taking on both an opposing player and a referee in defense of teammate Becca Pabona.

“The whole team had each others backs,” said Islander coach Scott Rosenkranz. “Micky had had enough and stepped in to let some opposing players and the ref know Becca had been roughed up perhaps a little too much, in her opinion. That got everyone’s attention.”

At that point, Erin Rosenkranz had left with a bloody nose (after taking a soccer ball to the face), goalie Kenzie Perry had been sidelined after taking a wicked shot to the back and Jacki Ginnings had endured a badly-mashed hand. With Pabona, one of the Islanders’ top offensive weapons, being repeatedly whacked, enter LeVine, who was ready to lay a girl out.

“We knew going into this game it was going to be tough, but we did not expect the nastiness and brutality from this team,” LeVine said. “Not only were they nasty with their physical play but they had a problem with keeping their mouths shut.”

Tension built after a series of cheap shots and finally boiled over on a play late in the game.

“Becca was shielding off a player and after the ball was way out of bounds, the girl pushed her from behind,” LeVine said. “I was fed up with them getting away with it so I gave the girl a shove and told her to calm down and she turned around and shoved me with both hands.

“The referee came and broke us up, but then tried to yell at me and Becca for it,” she added. “After a little argument with the ref he was threatening to card me and it’s a good thing I was subbed out before I went after that ref, ha ha…”

Despite losing 3-0, LeVine came away very proud of how her teammates rallied to each others defense time and again.

“After the game I received lots of high fives and hugs from my team. It was a pretty great moment,” she said. “Win or lose, we still appreciate the smallest things in the game that make us smile and we still have our pride and we have each other and we would not trade this team for anything.”

While the Islanders didn’t score, they came close several times, with Selina Medina, Vivien Valles and Perry, returning to the field after her injury, pushing play. Perry even got some payback, making a superb sliding tackle that delighted her teammates (and earned her a yellow card from an obviously biased ref.)

With Perry unable to play in goal in the second half, Morgan Zlystra, who was battling through a fever, stepped in and manned the net in the second half.

From LeVine bringing the thunder to numerous players staying on the field through pain, the Islanders impressed their coach, who gave the game hustle award not to a single player, but to the team as a whole.

“There was no quit in the girls today and we walked off the field smiling despite the score,” Scott Rosenkranz said. “Once again I have to say I’m proud of how they come together and play for each other.