Coupeville Sports

After losing Wednesday in Lynden, James Wood and Coupeville soccer face a must-win game Saturday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s backs to the wall time.

Unable to hold a second-half lead Wednesday, the Coupeville High School boys soccer squad fell 3-2 at Lynden Christian in a district playoff game, and finds itself on the cusp of elimination.

The Wolves, now 6-9 on the season, face Meridian Saturday at Whatcom Community College in a make-or-break game.

The winner of the 7 PM clash finishes 5th at the district tourney and advances to bi-districts, while the loser is done for the season.

Meridian (9-7-2) is a familiar foe, and a higher-ranked one than Coupeville might have expected to play.

The Trojans, who beat the Wolves 4-0 in a non-conference game early in the season, is the #1 seed from the Northwest Conference, but was stunned 3-1 Wednesday by Mount Baker.

Lynden Christian and Baker play for 3rd and 4th place Saturday, while King’s and South Whidbey play for 1st and 2nd.

All four of those teams have clinched a trip to bi-districts.

Coupeville, which opened the playoffs with a forfeit win over Cedar Park Christian, played strongly Wednesday, jumping out to a 1-0 lead at the half thanks to a Derek Leyva score.

The opening goal came just a few minutes into the game, when the Wolf junior slipped a shot from distance through the fingers of the Lyncs goaltender.

Leyva then notched another goal 10 minutes into the second half, taking a through ball from Chris Cernick and doin’ what he does best – make the net sing.

The two-goal night gives Coupeville’s scoring ace 14 goals for the season, and 38 for his two-year career in the red and black.

Up 2-0, the Wolves were rockin’ and rollin’, until the refs got involved and sent the game careening in a different direction.

“Looked like we might just cruise to a nice victory at that point,” said CHS coach Kyle Nelson. “Then, things changed.”

Lynden cracked the seal on the net, scoring twice on corner kicks, before being awarded a questionable penalty kick to win the game.

“Sure looked to me to be a bit of a gift,” Nelson said. “The foul sure looked to occur outside of the penalty box.

“We pressed for our own equalizer, but came up just short.”