Coupeville Sports

Sean Donley (John Fisken photos)

Zane Bundy

Not everyone left town.

Legendary soccer guru Paul Mendes did retire (replaced by assistant coach Kyle Nelson) and the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad did lose a large senior class.

Add in two players who moved far away in Jeremy Copenhaver and Dawson d’Almeida, and it would be easy to think the Wolves had no one left on their roster.

Not so fast.

Six veteran players, led by seniors Brett Arnold (defender), Sean Donley (midfielder) and Jared Dickson (defender), are back to anchor the team.

Junior goalie Joel Walstad and sophomores Zane Bundy (forward) and Tanner Kircher (defender) join that unit.

Toss in players making the jump from JV, such as seniors Jason Knoll and Cameron Boyd and junior Oscar Liquidano, and the Wolves have a strong core.

“While the team does not have a lot of players with varsity experience, we do have quite a bit of soccer experience,” Nelson said. “We have a good balance between offense and defense.”

Two newcomers — sophomore Abraham Leyva and senior Josiah Campbell — are also expected to have an impact as CHS rebuilds under a new coach.

“It should be a season of growth and improvement,” Nelson said. “We will be looking to surprise teams.”

While the Wolves won’t be league title favorites — 2A powers Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Cedarcrest hold that distinction — Coupeville can still be a surprise team.

“We’ll take the opportunity to learn and improve,” Nelson said. “As we come together as a team we should see some success and continue to build off of those successes.”

It’s also the final go-around in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference for Coupeville, the smallest 1A school in the state. Next year they jump to the 1A Olympic League.

Win or lose, they’ll go down fighting hard in their final run through the league.

“It is a great opportunity to play against top teams and challenge ourselves,” Nelson said.