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Archive for the ‘Boys Soccer’ Category

Soccer sadness in Sultan

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on April 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »

After a tough 4-3 loss Tuesday at Sultan, Alex Jimenez and his CHS soccer teammates will have to fight to earn a home playoff game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Kyle Nelson is not especially fond of making road trips to Sultan.

The Coupeville High School soccer coach has made the trek twice this school year, and both times things ended badly.

During the fall, Nelson’s girls’ squad fell 1-0 in a game which proved to be fatal to the Wolves bid for a playoff spot.

Tuesday night, it was time for the Wolf boys to head to Sultan, and, despite a late rally, they fell short on the same artificial turf field, dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker.

While this defeat won’t keep the Coupeville boys from playing in the postseason — they’ve already clinched a playoff berth — it still stings.

The biggest reason is a win would have solidified the Wolves hold on the #3 seed from the North Sound Conference.

Instead, at 2-4 in league play, 4-7 overall, CHS slips a half-game back of Sultan (2-3, 3-8).

South Whidbey (5-0, 9-1) and King’s (5-1, 6-2-1) are battling for the conference crown, while Cedar Park Christian (0-6, 0-8) sits mired in the cellar of what became a five-team league after Granite Falls was unable to field a squad this season.

The #3 NSC team gets a home district playoff opener against the #5 NSC team, while the #4 squad has to travel to play the #3 Northwest Conference squad.

Both games are loser-out affairs, but, if you win your first game, you advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket.

Coupeville, which played five straight on the road, culminating in Tuesday’s loss, closes the regular season at home with games Apr. 19 against CPC and Apr. 23 vs. South Whidbey.

Sultan faces South Whidbey (Apr. 19), King’s (Apr. 23), and CPC (Apr. 25) for its stretch run.

While the Wolves have lost four straight, the Turks are coming on strongly, winning three straight after losing their first eight. One of those defeats, a 2-0 loss, came at Coupeville earlier in the season.

Tuesday night Sultan jumped all over the Wolves in the early going, building a 3-0 lead before the halftime break.

Aram Leyva got one goal back for Coupeville, mashing “a well-taken penalty kick” for his 10th goal of the season.

The Turks responded with the equalizer early in the second half, stretching the lead back out to 4-1, before Derek Leyva stormed the net, rattling home a pair of scores to make things tight.

The back-to-back goals gives Derek Leyva 11 on the season, and 35 for his CHS career, pulling him closer to cousin Abraham Leyva’s school career record of 45 goals.

With the clock ticking down, the Wolves pushed the attack, desperate to knot things back up and force overtime, but it wasn’t to be.

“Unfortunately there seems to be a Sultan curse on me,” Nelson said. “We had a few other great attempts at goals in the closing minutes to make for an exciting game, but ultimately we paid for our slow start.”

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Booters retain positive playoff outlook

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on April 13, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Sam Wynn and CHS soccer remain on target to finish third in league play, which would give them a home playoff opener. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They still control their own destiny.

Bouncing back into action after a 10-day break, the Coupeville High School boys soccer squad fell 5-0 Friday at King’s.

But, even with the defeat, the Wolves remain in third-place in the North Sound Conference, which is important as that would bring a home playoff opener.

CHS, which sits at 2-3 in league play, 4-6 overall, has already clinched a postseason berth.

But, if they can hold on to their current status — and two of their final three games are against teams they beat the first time around — the Wolves likely get to make the short trip to Oak Harbor Apr. 29 to face the #5 NSC team in a loser-out game.

Coupeville closes the regular season with a trip to Sultan (1-3, 2-8) Apr. 16, before home games Apr. 19 against Cedar Park Christian (0-5, 0-7) and Apr. 23 vs. South Whidbey (5-0, 9-1).

The Wolves beat both Sultan and CPC the first time through the schedule.

Friday night CHS ran into a strong King’s team, which improved to 4-1 in league play, 5-2-1 overall, but the game was closer than the score might indicate.

“(We were) a little rusty from the long break from games,” said Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson. “Good defense until the last five minutes of each half. They scored four of their goals in that time.”

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Wolf booters pepper rival goalies

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on April 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Chris Cernick has punched in two goals for Coupeville High School soccer this spring. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

With four scores in 2019, sophomore Sage Downes has run his career total to seven goals.

Since the Coupeville High School soccer programs only began in 2004, I assumed it would be fairly easy to track down complete scoring records.

To which the universe flicked me behind the ear while whispering, “Oh, you naive fool.”

Having obtained access to the Whidbey News-Times archives, it took me maybe 12 minutes, tops, before finding I was on a mission which was not going to end well.

Having put in 2+ years as a sports editor at that newspaper back in the day, I understand the tricky balancing act it takes to cover both Oak Harbor and Coupeville.

But, when it came to covering soccer, there were a couple of my successors, who, it would seem, didn’t even try.

Huge chunks of games were missing, no one ran stat totals for soccer, ever, and, barring a miracle, we’ll never really know how many goals Geoff Wacker, Mike Duke and other early CHS pitch stars tallied.

I can tell you, with 99.9992% precision, who scored goals the past seven seasons (2013-2019), which have played out during the life of Coupeville Sports.

Before that, I can give you season team totals, though not individual stats, for 2010-2012, thanks to the archives of the North Sound Conference site.

Having held on to game scores from Coupeville’s four-year stint in the Olympic League and its final five seasons in the Cascade Conference, at least the NSC site is trying.

All of this is preamble to taking a look at how the current Wolves compare to their predecessors.

With four regular-season games left on the schedule, and then at least one (and hopefully many more) playoff games, the 2019 squad is rising up the charts.

The current Wolves sit tied for 6th, and while it’s unlikely they’ll catch last year’s record-busting team, it wouldn’t take much for them to at least finish in the top five over the last decade.

 

Year-by-year team totals:

2010 – 39 goals
2011 – 30
2012 – 27
2013 – 15
2014 – 22
2015 – 37
2016 – 48
2017 – 26
2018 – 66
2019 — 27 and counting

 

Season-to-date individual scoring totals:

Aram Leyva 9
Derek Leyva 9
Sage Downes 4
Chris Cernick 2
James Wood 2
Tony Garcia 1

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Rough road trip for depleted booters

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on April 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Owen Barenburg and his Coupeville High School soccer mates have 10 days off before their next game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

You go to bat country, sometimes you get bitten.

Missing a substantial number of players, the Coupeville High School boys soccer team got roughed up good Monday, falling 9-0 at Forks.

The non-conference loss drops the Wolves to 4-5 on the season, and they now have a 10-day break between games thanks to spring break.

The lopsided score came thanks to a solid foe, a long road trip, and, most importantly, a severely depleted roster thanks to injuries, illness and vacations.

“I only had 12 players make the trip, about half of them JV,” said Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson. “Not much else to say…”

When CHS returns to action Apr. 12, it jumps back into North Sound Conference play, hopefully with a full roster once again.

The Wolves sit at 2-2 in league play, holding on to third-place in their five-team conference.

With road games against King’s and Sultan, then home clashes with Cedar Park Christian and South Whidbey left to play, the Wolves are chasing a “home” playoff game.

Coupeville can’t host a district playoff game on its own field, as postseason clashes have to go down on turf.

But, if the Wolves hold on to that #3 seed, they would most likely get to host their playoff opener just up the road in Oak Harbor.

When it has been at full power, Coupeville has been competitive in every match.

The Wolves only surrendered 12 goals across their first seven games, but with starting goalie Dewitt Cole out with an injury and the defense comprised by missing players, foes have rung up 14 scores in the last two games.

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Shorthanded booters fight hard in rivalry game

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on March 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »

With starting goalie Dewitt Cole rehabbing an injury, Michael Langille played in goal Friday for the Coupeville High School boys soccer squad. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sometimes it’s just about survival.

Playing with a gutted roster Friday, and that was before losing players mid-game, the Coupeville High School boys soccer team fell 5-0 at South Whidbey.

Losing to a team which went to the state quarterfinals last season, and is the heavy betting favorite in the new North Sound Conference, is not unexpected.

The hope though is to have a full roster when the two schools tangle Apr. 23 in the regular-season finale.

Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson was philosophical as part of his team boarded the bus for the short trip back home from Langley.

“Considering we only had 14 players for the game and had to put a makeshift lineup together, I am proud of their effort,” he said.

With starting goaltender Dewitt Cole rehabbing an injury, back-up Michael Langille played the entire game in net and held up well.

South Whidbey senior Michael Lux paced the high-flying Falcons, rattling home a hat trick.

Coupeville, which was shut out for only the second time this season, drops to 2-2 in league play, 4-4 overall.

The Wolves sit solidly in third-place in what is supposed to be a six-team league.

CHS is a game-and-a-half off of league leaders King’s (3-0, 4-1-1) and South Whidbey (3-0, 6-1).

Cedar Park Christian (0-3, 0-4) and Sultan (0-3, 0-7) bring up the rear, while Granite Falls suspended its program this year due to a lack of players.

Staying in at least third-place is big, since it would bring the Wolves a “home” game in their district playoff opener.

Coupeville, which travels to Forks Monday for a non-league game, closes with four conference clashes, and is already assured of a postseason berth.

The #1 and #3 NSC teams host their first playoff bout, though the Wolves would need to travel to Oak Harbor for any postseason “home” games, since Coupeville High School doesn’t have a turf field.

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