Coupeville Sports

Camryn Clark and Coupeville High School soccer put together a strong performance Wednesday against the best team in the area. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They slowed their roll.

Playing inspired defense Wednesday, the Coupeville High School girls soccer team stood toe-to-toe with the biggest baddie in the region, and rarely blinked.

Holding visiting Mount Vernon Christian to just a single goal for the first 50 minutes of the game, the Wolves made a huge statement as their season winds down.

While Coupeville eventually fell 4-0, with the Hurricanes lobbing in a pair of goals in the waning moments, it’s a huge improvement from the first two times the Wolves faced MVC.

They gave up 21 goals across those two earlier losses, but Wednesday held the Hurricanes to their third-fewest goals of the season.

Only 4A Mount Vernon and ritzy private school Cedar Park Christian have held MVC to a lower final tally as the Hurricanes have gone 10-1-1 overall, 6-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play.

Coupeville sits at 2-5 in league play, 4-6 overall with a road game Oct. 26 at Friday Harbor left on the schedule.

There is also a contest against La Conner which was postponed, though the chances it will be rescheduled fade as the end of the regular season hurtles towards us.

Amaya Schaffeld and Co. close their season next week.

Wednesday’s game was originally supposed to be a road trip, but a lack of bus drivers changed it into a home affair, offering Coupeville fans one more chance to see their team in person.

The Wolves responded, pestering the Hurricanes, forcing them out of their carefully-calibrated routine, and, at least once, inadvertently drilling an MVC player in the face at point-blank range.

The Hurricanes popped in a goal in the game’s fifth minute off of a sweet example of note-perfect team play, as the lead girl drew the Wolf netminder towards her, then banked a flawless pass to a trailing teammate, who smacked the ball home.

But then Coupeville clamped down, holding MVC — a team which has outscored foes 86-4 this season — scoreless over the next 45 minutes of play.

The Hurricanes didn’t break their dry spell until the game’s 51st minute, when they buried a dagger into the right corner of the net.

Two more goals came late, with the final one — a long, booming shot which went up, up, and away, then suddenly dropped into the net over Wolf goalie Maylin Steele’s shoulder — was scored in stoppage time at the very end.

Coupeville mounted a handful of its own charges at the MVC net, but were thwarted by a stellar Hurricane defense and an alert goalie.

That left most of the Wolf highlights to come from defenders such as Mary Milnes, who lowered her shoulder and made her fervent fan section proud by rocking a would-be goal scorer with a crunch which the rival felt all the way to the back of her teeth.