Coupeville Sports

Coupeville freshman Nezi Keiper anchored a strong defense Thursday, but the Wolf booters were nipped 1-0 by host Sultan. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The net showed no mercy.

Despite several strong scoring opportunities, including a handful in the game’s final moments, the Coupeville High School girls soccer team came up scoreless Thursday at Sultan.

Playing on their home turf, the Turks popped in an early goal, then senior goaltender Amanda McKay made it stand up in a narrow 1-0 league win.

The loss, coming in Coupeville’s third-straight road game, drops the Wolves to 0-2 in North Sound Conference play, 0-4 overall.

That puts them two games off league leaders King’s (2-0, 3-1) and South Whidbey (2-0, 4-0), and a game back of Granite Falls (1-1, 2-3) and Sultan (1-1, 1-3).

Coupeville is currently tied with Cedar Park Christian (0-2, 2-2), a team it hosts next week.

Having played 3.75 of its four games without its main offensive weapon, Genna Wright, who was injured early in the season opener, CHS has been held scoreless twice and has just three goals on the season.

The Wolves crashed the net hard, however, keeping the ball on Sultan’s side of the field for huge chunks of time.

Avalon Renninger had several nice runs up the left side of the field, and had one shot late in the second half which took off like a rocket, only to be speared by McKay, who read the incoming ball perfectly.

Coupeville’s defense, anchored by veterans Mallory Kortuem and Tia Wurzrainer and freshmen Nezi Keiper and Carolyn Lhamon, held up well, turning the Turks away consistently.

The few shots Sultan managed to get off after its goal were promptly snuffed out by rookie goaltender Katelin McCormick, who was playing in place of injured starter Mollie Bailey.

With the game in stoppage time, Coupeville launched several final strikes on the Turks, only to have the ball take a bad bounce here, a slight curve there, denying what could have been an overtime-forcing score.

As he reflected back on the game, CHS coach Kyle Nelson saw two evenly-matched teams, with one just getting a break the other didn’t.

“Last night’s game was just one of those games,” he said. “We were the better team on the field, but they scored on the first of two or three shots the whole night and we just could not get it to happen even though we probably had double-digit shots.

“We controlled the ball in their half for the majority of time,” Nelson added. “But give credit to Sultan for playing some good defense.”

The Wolves play at home Saturday, their first appearance at Mickey Clark Field in two weeks, when they host 2A Kingston (0-3) in a non-conference tilt.

Varsity kicks off at 1 PM, with JV scheduled to follow.

It’s the first of four straight home games for Coupeville, which plays seven of its final 11 on its own field.

JV benched:

What was supposed to be a two-game evening Thursday turned into a one-game affair, as Sultan didn’t have enough players to field a JV team.