Coupeville Sports

Gillian Crossley scored a pair of goals Sunday.

Sean LeVine’s beard hits dangerous levels of growth in this surveillance photo.

Whidbey Islanders GU19 select soccer coach Sean LeVine has vowed not to shave or get a haircut until his team breaks its current losing streak.

To his wife Joline’s great disappointment, that day did not come Sunday.

“Now my wife is considering moving my bed to the couch. It doesn’t look good,” LeVine said with a laugh after the Islanders fell 5-2 at home in a game that was far more competitive than the score might sound.

Gillian Crossley tried to get the clippers fired up with an early goal, taking a “great through pass” from Hailey Erbe and banging the ball into the side of the net.

Unfortunately for those praying for a shaving, things got rougher from there, with the Islanders surrendering back-to-back goals on corner kicks.

“The sad part is that we’ve been scored on five times this season on corner kicks and we’ve put a lot of time in at practice on trying to correct this already,” LeVine said.

Three more unanswered goals dug a huge hole for the Islanders, though LeVine felt the Islanders played the second half “definitely looking like the more dangerous team.”

Crossley did her part, knocking in her second goal of the game on a “perfectly-placed shot” off of a chip from Vivien Valles, who was named the team’s Player of the Game for her “assist, several beautiful runs and her tenacity.”

The Islanders charged the net hard in the second half and created a number of chances, but couldn’t get another score before time ran out on them.

Even in a loss, one huge positive for Whidbey was the return to action of big-time players Paige Waterman and Jacalyn Hefflefinger.

Sidelined by injuries so far this season, Sunday’s action was their season debut.

“Paige put in some quality time in her traditional role at right defender,” LeVine said. “Jacalyn displayed her old ways at striker for us today and had two great chances on goal, one of which was a half volley off a cross that she nailed, but it went straight to the keeper.”

Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd (“We had a great fan base today and it was really great for the girls to have so much support”), the Islanders put in a ferocious effort, team-wide.

“This game was so good that despite the three-goal lead, everyone there would tell you that they expected us to catch up at any moment,” LeVine said. “Our conditioning is really good right now and we looked really good offensively today, but the ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

The Islanders return to action with a game at Bothell Saturday, Feb. 28.