Two games, two big wins for Edmund Kunz and Co. (Monica Grant photo)
The prairie was howling.
Playing in front of a loud, boisterous, and opiniated home crowd Tuesday, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team made it two lopsided wins in two tries.
This time the victim was visiting La Conner, which absorbed a 5-0 beatdown in a game which was never in question.
Now 2-0 on the young season, with two “non-conference” wins over Northwest 2B/1B League rivals, the Wolves are flying high headed into a home showdown Thursday with always-tough Friday Harbor.
That game kicks off at 4:00 PM at Mickey Clark Field and admission is free — as long as you agree to bring the noise and the funk.
Which was not a problem Tuesday, as the pro-Wolf crowd, led by a pack of players from the CHS girls’ soccer team, made sure everyone in a 20-mile radius could hear its roar.
And Coupeville fans had plenty to be happy about, as their pitch crew dominated in a game which got nicely chippy, especially near the end.
The Wolves kept La Conner away from goalie Sam Richards nearly all game, as the senior netminder only touched the ball every 20 minutes or so.
An amped-up defense, anchored by Brian Thompson, flew around the field, snuffing out any would-be attacks and making it all but impossible for the Braves to even get a shot off.
The visitors rarely made it on to the other side of the field, with Wolves like Shiloh Sandlin, Aiden Wheat, and Alton Hansen crashing hard to deflect balls, steal passes, and thorughly ruffle their opponents.
Aiden Wheat directs traffic. (Monica Grant photo)
When CHS had the ball, which was 98.3% of the time, it took advantage, raining down shots on the Braves, and sticking a bunch of them into the back of the net.
Edmund Wilson opened the scoring a little over five minutes into the game, popping up in front of the net seemingly out of a puff of smoke, before slapping home a shot past the flailing goaltender.
Life got progressively harder for the man in the net from there, with Solomon Rudat making it a 2-0 game when he came up the left side of the field, snagged a deflected shot and banked the rebound home.
Up 2-0 at the break, Coupeville put the game away with a wham-bam combo early in the second half.
Wilson netted his second goal of the night on a breakaway six minutes after halftime.
A mere 63 seconds later Chayse Van Velkinburgh put on some of the old razzle-dazzle, juking three defenders completely out of their cleats on a mad dash up field, before burying the ball deep in the left corner of the net.
Shiloh Sandlin was a rampaging force of nature as the Wolf booters won on his dad’s birthday. (Jackie Saia photo)
The night’s final score was a thing of beauty, as Wyatt Fitch-Marron whacked the snot out of the ball on a free kick, sending it spinning up and over the defense and dropping it right on the waiting toe of Wilson.
With the La Conner goalie screaming in silent terror at being left one-on-one with the hard-charging Wolf junior, the table was set, and Wilson didn’t fail, knocking home yet another score to finish off a hat trick.
That gives him a team-leading four goals on the season and 12 for his high school career, which leaves Edmund just one score shy of tying older brothers Aidan and Cael, who both netted 13 goals during their stellar runs in the red and black.
While the hat trick was huge, CHS coach Jim Kunz hailed Edmund Wilson for his complete game and the work he has put in.
“I want to praise the whole team, but Edmund deserves an extra shout-out,” Kunz said.
“He is always looking for the best opening, the best look for us, and has shown a lot of growth. The change between this season and last season is so good to see.”
Rudat and Van Velkinburgh each notched their first high school goals in the win, which came on the birthday of CHS assistant coach Matt Sandlin.
He was serenaded by the celebrating fans and his players after the game, with the sunny skies which had opened the game replaced by a soft, yellow moon which hung over the prairie.
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