Coupeville Sports

Tim Quinn (6) hugs Nathan Lamb after his goal.

Nathan Kircher does a little Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Jeremey Copenhaver cruises towards one of his three goals.

Lamb on the move.

Josh Wilsey sacrifices his noggin.

When the goals finally came, they poured down like rain.

After scoring four times in 11 games, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team found the magic touch Wednesday, pelting visiting Friday Harbor for five scores.

The sound of Wolf fans celebrating in the stands? Off the charts.

The photos are courtesy John Fisken. To see more of his work from the game, head over to http://www.nw1a2bathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=4023&league=5&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=45&sport=0&tab=1

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   Julia Myers and CJ Roberts enjoy the epic win, while Caleb Valko had a bad burrito for lunch and Nick Streubel is trying to get out of the wind. (John Fisken photo)

A cold, windy day just got a whole lot warmer for Coupeville High School boys’ soccer fans.

Raining down goals from every direction on visiting Friday Harbor Wednesday, the Wolves won their first game of the season, routing the Wolverines 5-1 and garnering a measure of revenge for what might have been their most agonizing loss.

The first time these two non-conference foes faced, way back in the season opener, Coupeville fell 1-0 on a horribly wet, muddy field when a dastardly mud puddle swallowed what would have been the tying goal.

This time there was no rain and no puddles, just a relentless wind that swept across the prairie, carrying the bellows of the soccer fans next door to where CHS baseball fans were making their own semi-frozen war whoops.

After scoring just four goals in their first 11 games, the Wolves had no trouble breaking through the defense on this day.

Super sophomore Jeremy Copenhaver led the attack, recording a hat trick to run his season scoring total to five.

After scoring on two breakaways, he capped the day with a goal on a free kick that CHS coach Paul Mendes hailed as “the best free kick I have seen in my time here at Coupeville.”

“He struck the ball hard over the defensive wall,” Mendes said. “The ball curved over the wall, and dipped down to find the upper left corner of the net. A great way to finish the day.”

Joining Copenhaver in the scoring rampage were junior Sean Donley, who punched in his second goal of the year, while assisting on another, and senior Nathan Lamb, the player denied by the mud puddle, who found sweet redemption with his first score.

With Coupeville playing stout defense in front of him, goaltender Kole Kellison was his usual stalwart self in the net.

“The win was well deserved and hard earned,” Mendes said. “It was especially satisfying since we had lost to them earlier in the season.

“It was a fine reward for all the work we have been doing,” he added. “It should give us some confidence as we approach the final stretch of the season.”

The Wolves return to action Friday, when they host Sultan. JV kicks off at 5, varsity at 7.

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Sean Donley netted his first goal Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

They are the hardest-playing 0-11 squad in all the land.

But, despite the fight and effort, a bounce or two each way has denied the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team all season.

Tuesday night, it was two goals in the final nine minutes of the game, as host South Whidbey slipped past the Wolves 3-1 in an all-Island showdown.

“The game was hotly contested in the second half, with both teams threatening to score numerous times,” said Wolf coach Paul Mendes. “It was a much more even match than the first time we played them. The effort was good right to the end.”

The Falcons got on the board first, when Stephen Lyons popped a shot into the net at the 22-minute mark. But, just two minutes later, Sean Donley broke free and answered with his first goal of the season.

The two teams then battled toe-to-toe for nearly 50 minutes of sparkling defense, before South Whidbey found the eventual winning goal on the foot of Bryce Auburn in the 71st minute. Lyons tacked on a final score four minutes later.

Coupeville returns immediately to the pitch today, when it hosts Friday Harbor at 4:30 PM in a non-conference game.

The two teams opened the season back in mid-March and the Wolves lost a 1-0 heart-breaker on the road when they were betrayed by the elements.

Playing on an extremely muddy field, Nathan Lamb beat the goalie for what would have been the tying goal, but was denied when a giant mud puddle swallowed the shot centimeters from the net.

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Luke Pelant and his team have played strongly in 2013, but can’t seem to catch a break. (John Fisken photo)

It probably wouldn’t be as frustrating if they were bad.

If the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad was being blown out 15-0 every game, you would accept it and move on. But this is a team with talent, a team led by veterans who have had quite a bit of success the past few seasons.

So, being unable to catch a break, any break, this season, has to be frustrating.

Case in point, Friday night, as the Wolves battled a very good Lakewood team through a scoreless 80 minutes, then through overtime, before falling at the very end of a rainy night by that most arbitrary of soccer endings, the shootout.

The loss drops Coupeville to 0-10 on the season, 0-9 in Cascade Conference play, and is the sixth time this season the Wolves have been denied by a single goal.

CHS coach Paul Mendes remained upbeat, even in the face of a universe seemingly bent on shafting his team.

“We are continuing to close the gap,” Mendes said. “If we keep working hard, some breaks will come our way…”

Facing off with a Cougar team that improved to 7-2-2, Coupeville put together one of its better offensive games, but couldn’t get the soccer gods to open the net just an inch or two more.

Nathan Lamb, returning from an injury, had a nice look at the net in the first half but the Lakewood goalie snared the ball.

In the second half, the Wolves pressed hard, with Luke Pelant pulling a header just wide of the left post, before Nathan Kircher split two defenders and fed Josh Wilsey, only to have Wilsey’s shot deflected at the last second.

In the shootout, Wolf goalie Kole Kellison came up big, but Lakewood goalie Sam Roe did him one better, denying Coupeville a win in front of their rain-soaked fans.

The Wolves have six regular season games left on their schedule, with three next week. They travel to South Whidbey Tuesday, April 16, before hosting Friday Harbor Wednesday and Sultan Friday.

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