Josh Richards and the Wolf defense fought hard all fall. (Jacob Lujan photo)
One goal.
One long, well-placed, kind of lucky goal.
That’s the difference between the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad going to the state tourney and turning in its gear.
Getting a bit of a boost from the pitch gods Thursday, Auburn Adventist Academy used a second-half score, courtesy a high, arcing shot which launched from way back and splashed home into the corner of the net, to KO the Wolves 1-0.
The loss caps a three-game run at the District 1/2/3/4 tourney for Coupeville, ending its best season in years at 9-7-1.
Auburn, which hosted Thursday’s rumble at Game Farm Park, surrounded by bright fall foliage, gets to 11-4 and claims its third trip to the 2B/1B state tourney.
For the Wolves, who failed to qualify for the playoffs last year, 2026 will go down as a successful run, one in which the team scored 47 goals.
That ties the 2016 squad for the second-best mark in program history, trailing only the 65-goal season crafted by the 2018 team.
Unfortunately for Coupeville, which was battered and bruised after a long run, there were no goals to be found on this day.
Lincoln Wagner (22) and Edmund Kunz bring the heat. (Monica Grant photo)
The Wolves, who played without injured defensive leader Brian Thompson, also lost scoring ace Sage Arends midway through the second half after he went down hard on a contested play.
There were a number of other CHS booters playing through assorted bumps, bruises, and worse, but the team hung tough.
With senior goalie Sam Richards making several strong saves, including snuffing out a dangerous header off of a corner kick, the Wolves fought to a scoreless tie at the half.
Coupeville’s leader scorer, Edmund Wilson, got a couple of quick looks at the net, but found himself fighting through a wall of Auburn players any time he got within a half mile of the ball.
The soccer gods actually smiled on the Wolves during the first 40 minutes, as the Falcons came within an inch or two of breaking the stalemate.
Auburn cranked a booming shot from about midfield which had goal written all over it, but the ball caught just enough of the top bar to spin away at the last second.
Coupeville wasn’t as lucky the second time around, however.
With Arends having been helped to the bench, the undermanned Wolves were scrambling to hold the line, and almost did, until a Falcon lofted a ball from deep on the right side of the field.
Perhaps catching a gust of wind, or at least benefitting from Auburn’s prayers, it went high, it went long, and it went exactly where it needed to go, dropping from the sky at the last second to nestle into a teeny-tiny hole in the back left of the net.
Trailing 1-0 with a little over 20 minutes to play, Coupeville tried to throw everything it had into getting a tying goal but couldn’t find the magic combination, with the Wolves falling just short of punching their ticket to state for the first time since 2010.
Coupeville loses three seniors to graduation, with Arends, Richards, and always-steady Solomon Rudat departing with the Class of 2027.
Arends ends his run on the prep pitch with 17 goals, leaving him in a tie with Ethan Spark for #6 on the all-time CHS boys career scoring chart.
Sage Arends had an impressive run as a CHS soccer player. (Monica Grant photo)
Final 2026 scoring stats:
Edmund Wilson – 13
Sage Arends – 7
Chayse Van Velkinburgh – 6
Malachi Chapa – 5
Edmund Kunz – 4
Wyatt Fitch-Marron – 3
Sawyer Rudat – 3
Brian Thompson – 2
Liam Lawson – 1
Sam Richards – 1
Solomon Rudat – 1
Shiloh Sandlin – 1
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