Abraham Leyva (21), seen here in Saturday’s jamboree, scored twice in Coupeville’s season-opening win Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)
One game and the joint already belongs to him.
Making his regular season debut, Coupeville High School sophomore Abraham Leyva punched in a pair of goals Tuesday, sparking the Wolf boys’ soccer squad to a 3-0 non-conference victory over visiting Friday Harbor.
In a game in which Coupeville dominated both halves of the field from start to finish — leaving Wolf goalie Joel Walstad just a handful of save opportunities — it was the sophomores who made the difference.
Leyva officially opened the season’s scoring when he redirected a blocked shot on goal over the Friday Harbor netminder’s arm in the game’s 22nd minute.
Coming down the right side with a full head of steam, Wolf senior Sean Donley blasted a shot that hit the goalie’s hands hard enough that the ball ricocheted away. One bounce and the ball was on Leyva’s foot, then it was gone, arcing off of his toe and dropping neatly into the back of the net.
Despite having many more shots on goals, Coupeville went scoreless for the next 48 minutes, before finally putting the game on ice with two scores in the final ten minutes.
Sophomore Zane Bundy took off on a daring one-on-one run, pulled off a shake-and-bake move that left the Friday Harbor goalie on the ground, waving his arms above his head in frustration, then slapped the ball in for a score.
As the wind-chilled CHS fans rocked the bleachers — none louder than proud mom Janine Bundy — he did a little shimmy, before being mobbed by his teammates.
Leyva capped the scoring with a booming rocket from almost midfield during stoppage time.
Friday Harbor was unable to mount much of a charge offensively, with their coach loudly half-pleading at one moment, “We HAVE to get the ball off of our side of the field.”
A strong defense anchored by seniors Brett Arnold and Jared Dickson and junior Oscar Liquidano blunted virtually every chance the Wolverines put together.
Playing behind his solid line, Walstad had a handful of easy saves and one nice one where the basketball star went airborne and snagged the ball at the peak of his jump.
The victory came in new coach Kyle Nelson’s first official game. Coupeville played in a jamboree Saturday.
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