Miesle scores first goal (and it was magnificent)!!

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Miesle scores first goal (and it was magnificent)!!

March 4, 2013 by David Svien

The Whidbey Islanders GU17 soccer squad has played and fought as a team all year. (Kali Barrio photo)

The Whidbey Islanders GU17 soccer squad has played and fought as a team all season. (Kali Barrio photo)

They have also rocked out in the back of mini-vans, as well. (Kerry Rosenkranz photo)

Emily Miesle

“Another tie!”

That was the first words out of Whidbey Islanders GU17 soccer coach Sean LeVine’s mouth after his team played Sunday.

In a continuing trend, his young team won every battle but the final one on the scoreboard. This time, it was a 1-1 draw with visiting Seattle United South, the second time this season the two squads have battled to a stalemate.

“Unfortunately, I think we are the team with the most draws in the league,” LeVine said. “We had a good game and once again should be walking away with the win.

“Like the Sounders last night, we beat our opponent in every statistic except the most important one,” he added. “We had about six or seven near goals in the first half. Shots rang off of posts and bounced off of their keeper, or their keeper was forced to make a good save.”

The Islanders broke through on a brilliant team-up by Kenzie Perry and Emily Miesle. Perry smacked a hard shot off the goalie’s hands, angling the ball perfectly for Meisle, who was there to collect the put-back for her first goal of the season.

A disputed foul call set up the tying goal for Seattle.

After Jen Spark expertly tackled a ball away from a foe in the goal box, the assistant ref called a soft foul, but that was overturned after a discussion with the head ref, setting up the visitors with a penalty kick.

The Islanders’ own chance at a much-deserved penalty kick later in the game got ignored, after Perry was taken down hard in the Seattle box. This time the assistant ref put his flag up, only to change his mind before the head ref saw his signal.

With Perry (winner of the game’s Hustle award, and, earlier in the week, graphic arts student of the month at Oak Harbor High School) and Morgan Zylstra both playing strongly in net, Whidbey successfully blunted all of Seattle’s scoring opportunities after the tying goal.

The defensive play of the game came when Perry made a nifty diving save on a header into the corner off of a free kick.

The Islanders play their final home game of the season Sunday, March 10 2 PM at Ft. Nugent.