Cael Wilson led Coupeville in scoring during his senior season. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Close, but no playoff berth.
Playing in the toughest 2B/1B boys’ soccer league in the state, the Coupeville High School co-ed pitch squad was in play for a postseason berth until the final day of the regular season.
Unfortunately for the Wolves, things came to an end Saturday at Mickey Clark Field, as they fell 5-0 to Orcas Island, the #1 team in statewide rankings.
The defeat brings Coupeville’s final record to 4-4 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 6-8-1 overall.
With the Wolf loss, the fourth and final playoff berth from the nine-team league will go to the winner of a late Saturday afternoon game between Mount Vernon Christian and Friday Harbor.
That team will join Orcas — which is 8-0 in league, 15-1 overall — Lopez Island, and Providence Classical Christian in advancing to the postseason.
Saturday’s finale pitted the Wolves against a rampaging Vikings team which has now outscored its foes 80-11 this season.
By contrast, no other NWL team has registered more than 48 goals.
Orcas, which has played in four of the last five 2B/1B state championship games, winning the crown in 2021, is fast, wily, experienced, and prone to capitalizing on every little mistake.
Even when the error would appear to be made by the refs, who awarded the Vikings a penalty kick after a nothing burger of a play less than seven minutes into play.
Orcas senior Kevin Ibarra Garcia slapped home the game’s opening goal via that freebie, then came back around less than five minutes later to crank in another shot from about 20 yards out to make it 2-0.
The visitors stretched the lead to 3-0 shortly before halftime when a ball slid just under the grasp of Wolf goaltender Hurlee Bronec, before tacking on two more scores in the second half.
Facing a stiff defense, Coupeville only managed to scratch out just a handful of shots on goal.
The best chance for the Wolves came very late in the game, when Preston Epp was awarded his own penalty kick after being roughed up.
The senior captain banged a wicked shot to the left, but it caught part of the bar, and part of the Orcas goalie’s arm, and was denied by a matter of inches.
Hurlee Bronec lays out to block a shot during an earlier game.
Saturday’s game marked the end of the road for a pack of Wolves, with 12th graders Ayden Wyman, Matthew Ward, Epp, Angel Partida, Mason Butler, Cael Wilson, Bronec, and Dane Hadsall playing their final game in the red and black.
Epp and Wilson were five-year players, both starting their runs as 8th graders.
Final season scoring stats:
Varsity:
Cael Wilson – 7
Angel Partida – 5
Sage Arends – 3
Preston Epp – 2
Brian Thompson – 2
JV:
Tamsin Ward – 3
Lillian Ketterling – 2
Frankie Tenore – 1
Angel Partida heads upfield.
Coupeville Sports 
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