William Davidson was impressive in goal Monday in the debut game for the Coupeville Middle School boys soccer program. (Charlotte Young photo)
History was made in the lightly splattering rain.
Middle school boys soccer arrived in Coupeville Monday afternoon, and things became official when the Wolves put up a scrappy fight before falling 4-0 to visiting Northshore Christian Academy.
The game marked the debut of the new program, which replaces football at CMS.
And, while the Wolves didn’t get a historical first goal, barely missing on one breakaway shot off of Logan Downes foot, they did birth a new star.
That would be William Davidson, the 8th grader formerly known as “The Cornish Game Hen.”
Now operating as “Mr. Freeze” after a memorable incident (don’t ask) at summer football camp, he manned the net in the first half and made an immediate impression.
Barely a minute into the first game in CMS history, Davidson went low, sprawling out to make a sensational diving catch on a Northshore shot, robbing the visitors of a quick score.
The young Wolf goaltender stood tall in the first half, deflecting shots with both hands and stopping at least two shots from point-blank range.
Davidson’s diving stop on the first shot might have been the most eye-popping play, but he also came up big on a penalty kick.
Facing off with the shooter in a 1-on-1 situation as everyone else hung off to the side, Mr. Freeze read his opponent correctly and was right in place to snatch away the incoming shot as it hurtled towards potential pay-dirt.
Northshore, unlike Coupeville, entered the game with considerable experience.
Its players moved like travel ball pros and did a great job of spacing the field, and, eventually, the private school squad found the back of the net.
The season’s first score came with a hair over five minutes left in the 30-minute first half, shortly after Coupeville’s Andrew Williams narrowly missed out on a scoring opportunity on the other side of the field.
The two teams kept the game stuck at 1-0 well into the second half, with Davidson moving out from the net to play defense, while Zane Oldenstadt moved in as goaltender.
NSCA popped in a second goal 10 minutes into the second half, off of a ball which was deflected off several player’s legs before taking a bad bounce (for CMS at least) and finding the net.
The games’s final two scores both came late, while Oldenstadt made a pretty snag to deny one Northshore shooter who had a seemingly wide-open target.
Coupeville’s best chance at rattling home a goal on opening day came courtesy Downes, who made a run down the right side, wound up, and lashed a laser off the far post.
Two inches to the side and the 8th grader would have gone down in the record books, but it wasn’t to be.
While the Wolves lost their opener, they got inspired play from hustlers like Mikey Robinett, Nathan Ginnings, and Nick Guay, and looked like a team that could gel quickly.
They’ll get a chance to do it away from Whidbey, as CMS hits the road for three straight games. It doesn’t return to Mickey Clark Field until Oct. 7, when it will start a three-game home-stand.
As he surveyed the field afterwards, as his players, complimentary cream puffs in hand, straggled off, CMS coach Reese Cernick liked a lot of what he witnessed in the debut.
“I’m pretty happy with how we played defensively in the first half,” he said. “William did a fantastic job right off the bat, with save after save at the start.
“I’m happy people played their positions the way they were supposed to, also,” Cernick added. “We had good communication and chatter out there, and they played with their heads up.”
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