Coupeville Sports

     Kole Kellison, seen here in a game earlier this season, made several spectacular saves Wednesday.

“Hey ref, have a nice trip back to Cedarcrest on the school bus with the team!”

The mood was not a happy one Wednesday, as Coupeville High School boys’ soccer fans announced their displeasure with the three-man referee crew loudly and often.

From a highly questionable call that set the visitors up with a game-busting penalty kick to a yellow card being issued to Josh Wilsey after he seemed to be the one getting roughed up, a fair amount of calls seemed to go against the Wolves.

Though even the most ardent of fans would have to admit that the 4-0 loss couldn’t totally be laid at the feet of the refs.

For one thing, being blind, they wouldn’t see anything at their feet…

The defeat, Coupeville’s ninth straight to open the season, wasn’t for a lack of effort. Goaltender Kole Kellison made numerous saves, some brilliant, and the goals that did get past him weren’t easy shots to snuff.

The Wolves scrapped on defense, with Brett Arnold, Luke Pelant and Danny Savalza frequently putting their bodies in harms way, but the team’s season-long offensive struggles continued. Despite a couple of brief looks at the net, Coupeville was blanked for the sixth time this year.

Trailing 1-0 in a hard-fought, evenly-matched scrap, the Wolves got knifed in the back with 18 minutes to play in the first half.

Out of the box and fighting for his life, Kellison blocked a shot, ended up on the ground and went after the ball as a Cedarcrest player went to kick it.

To everyone but the ref, it appeared the Cedarcrest striker slipped and went down on his own, but Kellison was whistled for a penalty, setting up a penalty kick as the Wolf fans howled.

The resulting score seemed to break Coupeville’s spirit for a bit, but it regrouped in the second half, which became much, much rougher, with players from both teams thumping on each other.

Cedarcrest’s third goal was a spectacular one, as a laser shot went off the top bar and shot straight back to a Cedarcrest player, who buried the rebound in the corner of the net on a truly beautiful goal.

By that time, though, Wolf fans had had enough of the refs and were not in the mood to appreciate the rival artistry.

Wilsey went to the bench after his yellow card, followed by a flop of epic proportions by a visiting cream puff, who did a cartwheel after being brushed by a Wolf and then popped up and made a dramatic, Oscar-worthy show of crying as, for once, the ref ignored him.

Of course, if the ref was blind, maybe he just didn’t see his theatrics…

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Jeremy Copenhaver doin’ what he does. (John Fisken photo)

For 54 minutes, it looked like a win.

Unfortunately, high school soccer games are 80 minutes long, and eventually a scrappy Coupeville High School defense fell under the onslaught of goal scorer extraordinaire Lucas Swanson Monday night.

With Swanson finding the back of the net three times in less than 30 minutes, visiting King’s came from behind to edge the Wolves 3-1 in a close, highly competitive game that CHS coach Paul Mendes hailed as “the best we played all season.”

“We are making progress and need to keep working hard to improve our game,” Mendes added.

Now 0-8 overall, 0-7 in Cascade Conference play, the Wolves will look to turn things around in the second half of the season. Five of their final eight games will be at home, with a sixth just down the road in Langley against South Whidbey.

Two bright signs pointing forward are the goal-scoring touch of sophomore forward Jeremy Copenhaver, who netted his second score of the season, and the solid play in the net of sophomore Joel Walstad, standing in for starter Kole Kellison.

Copenhaver opened the scoring on an unassisted play, dribbling by two players for a “close-range, well-placed shot” at the 22-minute mark.

“It was a good start for us, putting their defense under a lot of pressure early on,” Mendes said.

The Wolves clung to the lead until well after halftime, with the eventual game-winner not coming until there was just four minutes left on the clock.

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    With five of their next six games at home, Wolf booters will enjoy fan support like this. (John Fisken photo)

The Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team is not a bad team, but they can not seem to catch a break no matter what.

The premier Wolf spring sports team the past several seasons, the booters entered 2013 with big hopes.

Hopes that, so far, have been dashed by fluke goals, a tough, road-heavy schedule, a slow-to-develop offense and a series of ultra-close losses.

After absorbing a 2-1 defeat on the road at Granite Falls Friday night, Coupeville is 0-7, with four of its losses coming by one goal.

The Wolves did break one trend, finding the back of the net for only the second time this season. Senior Josh Wilsey beat a defender to a ball in the second half and punched it home with a quick shot from his left.

Unfortunately, Granite Falls had already rung up two first-half goals of their own (Tyler Bassett and Evan West), and Coupeville never quite made up the gap.

It came close, when Luke Pelant missed a header by mere inches. But time ran out on the Wolves once again, despite their best efforts.

After playing five of its first seven matches on the road, Coupeville will host three straight and five of its next six, starting with a match-up Monday, April 8 against King’s. JV kicks off at 4, varsity at 6.

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