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Goals galore!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged Abraham Leyva, Bellevue Christian, CHS Wolves, losing streak, Soccer on March 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Garrett Compton (10), seen here in an earlier game, made a sensational rolling save on a near-goal Wednesday. (John Fisken photo)

The streak lives on.

Coupeville High School senior Abraham Leyva beat the clock by less than 30 seconds Wednesday, flipping in a goal to cap his team’s boys’ soccer game against visiting Bellevue Christian.

But, while it was the fifth straight game that Leyva had scored in this season, it was also the fifth straight time he and his teammates exited the field without a win.

Falling 7-4 in a high-powered shoot-out with the Vikings, the Wolves slid to 0-4-1 in non-conference play.

Coupeville, playing without starting goaltender Connor McCormick (serving a one-game suspension for a red card issued for a hand ball the day before), fell behind early and could never catch back up.

Bellevue knocked in a goal 80 seconds into the game, then tacked on a pair more in the game’s 25th and 27th minute.

Both the second and third scores were fairly lucky ones, with balls taking a pro-Bellevue bounce during heated scrums in front of the net.

Despite the early 3-0 deficit, Wolf goalie Jose Marcos played well, making a series of saves, and got a little help from one of his teammates on a crucial play.

Flying into action from the side, Garrett Compton tumbled head-over-rear in front of the net, snagging a wayward ball with his knees as he did so and preventing the ball from bouncing past Marcos, who was down on the ground after blocking a previous shot.

The Wolves got on the board in the game’s 29th minute when Ethan Spark unloaded a deep, booming shot from almost midfield that took off skyward, then suddenly snapped and dropped over the Bellevue goalie’s head at the last second.

Very reminiscent of a lot of the goals scored by his older sister, CHS senior Jenn Spark, during her run on the pitch, it was his first goal of the season.

After giving up two quick scores to start the second half, Coupeville fought back with three second-half goals to keep things interesting.

William Nelson, trailing the play, banged home his second score of the year, before Sebastian Davis hit a shot that caught the very edge of the net for his first goal of 2016.

Leyva then wrapped things up, pinning the BC goalie on one side of the net, before flipping the ball over his outstretched arm for the 30th goal of his prep career.

JV nipped: Andre Avila knocked in a first-half goal to stake Coupeville to an early lead, but Bellevue slipped in two late scores to escape with a 2-1 win.

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“They’re not just my teammates, they’re my family!!”

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged Brian Roberts, CHS Wolves, M-Bar-C Ranch, Soccer, Toppins Frozen Yogurt on March 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

CHS goalie Brian Roberts hauls in a shot. (John Fisken photo)

“I love everything about soccer!”

Coupeville High School freshman Brian Roberts grew up playing baseball, but a season on the pitch sent his life in a different direction.

After swinging a bat from T-ball on up, he played a year of junior soccer with best friend Shane Losey on a squad sponsored by Toppins Frozen Yogurt.

From that moment on, it’s the pitch life for him.

“My family have always been into baseball, but the one year I played soccer I fell in love with the sport,” Roberts said. “Plus my fellow goalie, Jose Marcos Castro, kept telling me to play.”

Roberts enjoys the quick pace and ever-changing action that drives soccer.

“I love the adrenaline you get when you get the ball; you can’t even tell you’re running,” Roberts said. “I love rolling in the mud.

“But honestly, it wouldn’t be the same with a bunch of strangers,” he added.

“I’d still play, but our team is more than that; we’re all a big family; we got each others backs and that’s what I love the most, they are not just my teammates, they’re my family.”

Roberts would like to get a taste of varsity action this season, and is working towards earning that honor full-time.

To do so, he’s hard at work figuring out the strong parts of his game and the areas he needs to continue to fine-tune.

“My strengths are stopping the play and getting the ball to my teammates,” he said. “I need to work on my goal kicks and ball handling, for sure.”

Roberts, who plans to play football for CHS as a sophomore, is a big part of his school’s pep and jazz bands and spends a fair amount of time on his guitar.

He is also quite active with the M-Bar-C Ranch in Freeland, which is run by the Forgotten Children’s Fund.

It offers a western-style adventure for children with a variety of special needs, and has been a huge success since the ’70s.

“They have influenced my life majorly,” Roberts said. “They have given me the skills to work with special needs kids/adults and have helped me achieve the Presidential Volunteer Service Award and the American Legion Outstanding Citizenship Award.”

He credits his mother, Heidi, with being the guiding light in his life, and has taken her lessons in to his heart.

“She has always taught me to be caring and respectful to everyone, even strangers,” Roberts said. “I’ll always be a person to stop a play/game to make sure someone is OK.”

Two CHS/CMS teachers who double as coaches have also had a huge impact on shaping his growth.

“I never had a real good father figure in my life and so Mr. (Ron) Bagby and Mr. (Brett) Smedly have been great role models,” Roberts said. “They have both equally taken the time to make sure that I was OK.

“They both make sure that I’m not hanging with the wrong crowd, that I’m doing my best in school and that I’m being the best person I can be, and I thank them so much.”

To find out more about the M-Bar-C Ranch, pop over to:

http://www.m-bar-c.org/index.htm

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Nall aims for success on pitch, in class!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged CHS Wolves, longboarding, opera, Soccer, team chemistry, Zack Nall on March 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Wolf junior midfielder Zack Nall (20) holds off two pesky foes in a game this season. (John Fisken photo)

A good performance on the field will equal a good performance in the classroom.

That’s the plan for Zack Nall, a junior midfielder in his second season of playing for the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad.

“I started to try something new and challenge myself,” Nall said. “And to make sure that if I play, then good grades must follow.

“So it was like a way to tell myself that I have to keep good grades if I wanna play my passion.”

Away from the pitch Nall enjoys longboarding, weight training and “long, long runs,” which has helped prepare him for the constant flow of action in soccer.

“I enjoy how quick the sport is, it’s something I am getting used to,” he said.

Close friends Ryan Freeman, Josh Datin and Loren Nelson, all soccer players, originally talked Nall into trying the sport, something for which he is grateful.

“The had the biggest impact on me playing,” he said. “All they did was encourage me.”

An opera fan who has a talent for writing and spends his free time “fixing my hair or making people laugh,” Nall is working on fine-tuning his craft on the field, building on strengths while trying to become a well-rounded player.

“My strengths are my speed and vision, to be able to see a run and to make that run, or to be able to see a player make a run and I just have to send them the ball in the right spot away from danger,” he said. “It’s up to them from there, but I am always looking around and I am almost always open.

“I’m a tough opponent to guard when I’m on the run.

“What I need to work on is quicker reaction time. If I’m on the ball too long, even if I have control or not, coach doesn’t like that,” Nall added. “I’m in a new position so I’m used to taking the ball straight to the top, but in my new position it requires more defense and passing, which I am learning more and more about.

As he goes through the rest of this season and his senior year, helping to build team chemistry is a big goal.

“Something about the sport and how certain players interact and create team chemistry is really something to me which I am eager to pick up on more and more,” Nall said. “Now the team just has to figure out the type of player I am and I have to do the same in order for us to be a complete team.

“My goal is to ensure our team has a captain to look up to next year, and who they can rely on to ask for any kind of help or questions about the pitch,” he added. “I love making a good influence on people about this sport.”

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On the attack!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged CHS Wolves, Cody Menges, Connor McCormick, John Fisken photos, Soccer on March 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Wolf goalie Connor McCormick aggressively takes command. (John Fisken photos)

Andre Avila pushes the attack.

Sebastian Davis dances between defenders.

Unleashing the fury of his super-powered leg, Brandon Jansen clears the goal.

Santiago Ortiz is here to save the day.

Not an especially pleasant moment for either William Nelson or his Vashon counterpart.

JT Quinn gets down ‘n dirty, battling for possession of the ball.

Not even gravity can defeat Cody Menges.

Who saw this coming?

Spring is actually acting like spring lately, giving Coupeville High School’s sports teams an opportunity to play in sunshine, with no rain or wind to buffet the Wolves at work.

The latest to benefit from the unexpectedly mild weather was the CHS boys’ soccer squad, which battled Vashon down to the wire in shirt-sleeve conditions Tuesday.

Working the sidelines, travelin’ photo man John Fisken clicked away contentedly, and the pics above are courtesy him.

To see more, and possibly purchase some, thereby helping fund college scholarships for CHS student/athletes, pop over to:

Varsity — http://www.nisquallyathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=11054&league=22&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=188&sport=0

JV — http://www.nisquallyathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=11055&league=22&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=188&sport=0

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Heartbreak city!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged Abraham Leyva, CHS Wolves, shoot-out, Soccer, Vashon Island on March 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Cody Menges, seen here in an earlier game, kept Coupeville alive in a penalty kick shootout Tuesday with a brilliant, sudden-death shot. (John Fisken photo)

One play will echo for a long time.

A referee’s interpretation on a tough call late in a tie game Tuesday put the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad down a player, cost them their goalie’s services and will deny that same player a chance to suit up Wednesday.

But it ultimately didn’t cost them a win.

Knotted 1-1 with visiting Vashon Island, the Wolves were scrambling back on defense with six minutes to play when the game, and a portion of their season, took a wild plunge off the side of a cliff.

Coupeville netminder Connor McCormick, who was outside the goal box, was whistled for a hand ball as he tried to get back into position.

The ref ruled it was worthy of a red card, which carries an automatic ejection and a one-game suspension, because he felt the play likely denied Vashon an “obvious opportunity to score.”

The Wolves were allowed to replace McCormick in goal with Jose Marcos, but had to pull another player off the field as well and play 10-on-11 the remainder of the way.

And they did pretty well, battling through 16 more minutes of scoreless play (six in regulation, 10 in overtime) before falling 6-5 in a penalty kick shootout.

It won’t count as a loss, however, but a tie, as Olympic League schools only count shootout wins or losses in conference games, and Vashon is a non-conference foe.

That leaves Coupeville at 0-3-1 on the season.

The Wolves return to action immediately, hosting Bellevue Christian (1-3) Wednesday, but will do so without McCormick.

The senior goalie was the star for most of the game Tuesday, holding down the net with authority and blunting several charges by the Pirates.

After the two teams battled to a stalemate through the first 40 minutes, Coupeville broke through quickly in the second half.

Abraham Leyva took a ball off of the foot of Zane Bundy and smacked a shot into the right corner of the net for his fourth goal in as many games.

Coming just two minutes into the half, it gave the Wolves breathing room and they held on until Vashon got lucky, sliding a partially-deflected shot just under McCormick’s glove at the 19:20 mark.

From that point on, the two teams went toe-to-toe (and often elbow to head, as things got chippy at times).

Marcos held down the fort to end regulation, then Wolf defender Tanner Kircher stepped in to mind the net in OT and through the penalty kicks.

He knocked down Vashon’s second attempt, while Coupeville hit on its first four attempts (Bundy, Leyva, William Nelson and Sebastian Davis) to take a 4-3 lead into the final round of penalty kicks.

The Pirates rallied, however, notching a goal on their final kick, then getting a block on the Wolves fifth attempt.

Knotted at 4-4, the teams exchanged successful kicks, with Coupeville’s Cody Menges draining a pressure-packed sudden-death one to keep things going.

That was it for the luck of the Wolves however, as Vashon banged home their next attempt, before the Pirate goalie snuffed Loren Nelson to end the game.

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