Coupeville Sports

Luke Pelant and his defense held fast all night long. (John Fisken photo)

All in all, it turned into a pretty nice Friday night in Coupeville.

After a few tentative showers, the rain went away, a rainbow came out and the Wolf boys’ soccer squad thrilled a near-capacity crowd with a scintillating 1-0 victory over visiting Sultan.

Running aggressively from the opening tip to the final whistle, Coupeville threw shot after shot at the Turk goalie, while their own young goaltender, sophomore Joel Walstad, made several superb saves while standing in for starter Kole Kellison.

The Wolves kept the majority of the action on Sultan’s side of the field, popping shots from every direction against Turk goaltender Danny Arroyo.

Josh Wilsey slammed a shot off the bar and Jeremy Copenhaver and Nathan Kircher narrowly missed on break-aways.

Still, with Arroyo and Walstad matching save after save, the game remained deadlocked until the 67th minute, when Wilsey combined skill and a wee bit of luck to collect his second goal of the season.

His initial shot was blocked, but it hit Arroyo’s chest and bounced right back to Wilsey on a perfect angle, allowing the Wolf senior to slam it past the now-defenseless Turk.

The resulting roar from the crowd would have drowned out any Navy jets flying overhead.

The Wolves weren’t out of the woods yet, however, as Sultan, watching the minutes tick down, came as hard as they had all night.

Coupeville refused to break, with defenders Luke Pelant, Brett Arnold, Jared Dickson and Tanner Kircher anchoring the last line line of resistance, outrunning and outgunning each Turk attack.

Behind them, playing the game of his young soccer career, was a resolute Walstad, who stood tall and played like a pro. Nothing was getting past him, to the eternal disappointment of a surprisingly large, and very vocal, Sultan fan base.

With every fan hanging on the edge of the seats as the seconds ticked down on the ref’s watch, Wilsey caught a final ball with his chest, moved it to his foot, flipped it skywards and then led the team celebration as the stands rocked behind him.

The second straight win for a suddenly surging Wolf squad, it bodes well as they head into the final week of regular season play. Coupeville plays three times next week, with one final home game — Senior Night — Wednesday, April 24 against Granite Falls.

JV action: The Wolves lost 5-1 in a game that stayed close until midway through the second half. Connor McCormick made several very strong saves in net, while Cameron Boyd-Eck netted Coupeville’s goal on a booming shot over the goalkeeper’s head.