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Archive for the ‘Boys Soccer’ Category

YOur 2014 CHS softball squad. (Amy King photo)

 Your 2014 CHS softball squad. Back (l to r): McKayla Bailey, Breeanna Messner, Tiffany Briscoe, Monica Vidoni, Hailey Hammer, Madeline Strasburg, Haley Sherman. Front: Erin Josue, Robin Cedillo, Jae LeVine, Madeline Roberts, Emily Licence, Emily Coulter. (Amy King photo)

Cue the rain. Cue the wind. It’s time for spring sports on Whidbey.

Did you really think the gentle, balmy, blue sky-drenched weather that we’ve seen the last week would last into the start of the actual seasons?

Oh, you sad, sad fool…

Well, weather or not, the 2014 spring sports season — the last one for Coupeville High School in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference — officially kicks off today, when the Wolf boys’ soccer squad hosts a jamboree (2 PM) at Micky Clark Field.

Lake Stevens and South Whidbey are in town, the event officially puts a stamp on Kyle Nelson’s hiring as Wolf coach (replacing the retired legend, Paul Mendes), and it will go on, regardless of weather.

Soccer doesn’t stop for anything short of a hurricane, and then it depends on what category of hurricane we’re talking about.

The lone CHS golfer, two-time state meet qualifier Christine Fields, was actually supposed to kick off the new season Friday, but excess rain caused a scheduled match at Useless Bay Golf and Country Club between South Whidbey, Overlake and the Lone Wolf to be postponed.

Monday, weather permitting, the season will move into being a full-on reality, with baseball traveling to South Whidbey, softball hopping across to Port Townsend and girls’ tennis welcoming Port Townsend to town.

Tuesday, Friday Harbor comes to Coupeville for soccer and tennis, Fields and her Falcon traveling mates go to Bush and softball squares off at home with arch-rival South Whidbey and its new coach.

Get your bets in now. How many games will be postponed and rescheduled due to weather in ’14?

I’m saying 71, and I feel pretty confident in that number.

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Oscar Liquidano (bottom right) with other CHS football captains. (Sylvia Arnold photo)

  Oscar Liquidano (bottom right, black hoodie) with other CHS football captains. (Sylvia Arnold photo)

Even if he moves to Las Vegas with his family, the legend will live on in Coupeville.

Even if he moves to Las Vegas with his family, his legend will live on in Coupeville.

Aaaaaa-goooooo-nyyyyyyyy.

It’s not 100% certain yet, but there’s a very real possibility the Wolves will lose one of their football captains before he can suit up for his senior season.

Junior lineman Oscar Liquidano, who also plays basketball and soccer for Coupeville High School, may be pilfered away from the red and black if a family move to Las Vegas happens shortly.

“Well, it’s not a sure thing … but only God knows what will happen,” Liquidano said.

The easy-going man mountain was supposed to join Josh Bayne, Carson Risner and Aaron Wright to lead the Wolves into a new league next season. Coupeville is hopping out of the 1A/2A Cascade Conference and joining the 1A Olympic League.

CHS football coach Tony Maggio was last seen huddled in a corner, tears running down his face. Or, at least that’s how I imagine it…

“Devastating. I love that kid,” Maggio said.

If the move happens, it will actually take two football players away from Coupeville, as younger brother Uriel was a standout defensive player for the JV this year as a freshman.

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Abraham Leyva (left) with select soccer teammate Dawson d'Almeida. (Dan d'Almeida photo)

  Abraham Leyva (left) with select soccer teammate Dawson d’Almeida. (Dan d’Almeida photo)

You lose one, you gain one.

When Jeremy Copenhaver was plucked away from the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad by a family move cross-country, it took a goal-scoring threat away from the Wolves.

But, just maybe, sophomore Abraham Leyva will be able to step in and provide that same sort of spark.

The top scorer on his select soccer team, Washington Rush, where he plays along side Wolf teammate Zane Bundy, he netted eight goals in 14 games.

Now he hopes to make an impact on the pitch for CHS this spring.

“My goals are to get as many goals and assists as I can, so I can make first or second team,” Leyva said. “I enjoy the sensation of scoring goals, humiliating players by beating them and getting assists.”

While he has a great deal of confidence in his skill (“The areas I feel comfortable with are my dribbling, my speed, my passing and crossing”), he still works hard at the game.

“I need to work on my shots, finishing and heading,” Leyva said. “I work on that a lot with my dad.”

It was his father who first brought him to the beautiful game, signing him up for a soccer team at age four, when they were living in Mexico. 12 years later, Leyva is still going strong, and can still turn to his dad for advice and help.

“My dad has the biggest impact on me,” Leyva said. “He helps me improve so I can become one of the best and maybe even go pro.

“If it weren’t for him pushing me to be better, I would have not had the same level of skill as I have now.”

During his time on the soccer pitch, Leyva has bounced all over, playing multiple positions.

He started as a defender, “then, like all kids, wanted to score goals” and moved up to forward. Now he generally operates as a midfielder, working the right side of the field, where he can use his speed and dribbling skills to blast by people.

The speed is honed by working out, while his reflexes are sharpened in a different way.

“I run to stay in shape and play video games like every other teenage dude!”

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Sean Donley (John Fisken photos)

Sean Donley (John Fisken photos)

Zane Bundy (John Fisken photos)

Zane Bundy

Not everyone left town.

Legendary soccer guru Paul Mendes did retire (replaced by assistant coach Kyle Nelson) and the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad did lose a large senior class.

Add in two players who moved far away in Jeremy Copenhaver and Dawson d’Almeida, and it would be easy to think the Wolves had no one left on their roster.

Not so fast.

Six veteran players, led by seniors Brett Arnold (defender), Sean Donley (midfielder) and Jared Dickson (defender), are back to anchor the team.

Junior goalie Joel Walstad and sophomores Zane Bundy (forward) and Tanner Kircher (defender) join that unit.

Toss in players making the jump from JV, such as seniors Jason Knoll and Cameron Boyd and junior Oscar Liquidano, and the Wolves have a strong core.

“While the team does not have a lot of players with varsity experience, we do have quite a bit of soccer experience,” Nelson said. “We have a good balance between offense and defense.”

Two newcomers — sophomore Abraham Leyva and senior Josiah Campbell — are also expected to have an impact as CHS rebuilds under a new coach.

“It should be a season of growth and improvement,” Nelson said. “We will be looking to surprise teams.”

While the Wolves won’t be league title favorites — 2A powers Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Cedarcrest hold that distinction — Coupeville can still be a surprise team.

“We’ll take the opportunity to learn and improve,” Nelson said. “As we come together as a team we should see some success and continue to build off of those successes.”

It’s also the final go-around in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference for Coupeville, the smallest 1A school in the state. Next year they jump to the 1A Olympic League.

Win or lose, they’ll go down fighting hard in their final run through the league.

“It is a great opportunity to play against top teams and challenge ourselves,” Nelson said.

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Softball coaches Amy and David King survey the action last season. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Softball coaches Amy and David King wait for the rain to come back. It always does. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Four of the six Coupeville girls who went to the state track meet last year can return in 2014.

The state track meet contingent in 2013 was (l to r) Kirsten Pelroy, Marisa Etzell, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, Sylvia Hurlburt, Madison Tisa McPhee and Makana Stone. Only Hoskins and Tisa McPhee graduated. (Kristin Hurlburt photo)

Saint Patricks’s Day is opening day.

Coupeville High School kicks off its spring sports season — its last as a member of the 1A/2A Cascade Conference — with baseball and softball games and a girls’ tennis match Monday, Mar. 17.

Boys’ soccer and track join the battle a day or two later, and the season runs into early May, when the postseason will start to play out.

Below are the schedules, as they sit today.

Baseball and softball schedules are still being tweaked, and a 20th game will be added to both schedules shortly.

Also, as we go forward, expect weather to play havoc with things (the sun will come out just as the season winds down…), so keep an eye on the schedule at http://coupeville.tandemcal.com/.

Things to keep in mind:

*If boys’ soccer has enough players for a JV squad, they will play the same dates and locations as the varsity, with their games kicking off two hours earlier.

*There is a chance baseball will field a JV team this season. If they do, that schedule will be announced later.

*There is no JV for softball or track and tennis matches are one big mash-up. Varsity netters go first, but JV players then hit the courts as they open up, meaning often varsity and JV are playing at the same time.

*There are no home meets for track this season.

*Coupeville has one golfer — junior Christine Fields, a two-time state meet qualifier (she placed 8th as a freshman, 15th as a sophomore). She practices and travels with South Whidbey, since CHS does not have a team, but competes as a one-woman Wolf squad.

Of the eight teams in the Cascade Conference, three (South Whidbey, King’s and Coupeville) are 1A, but King’s does not field baseball, softball or girls’ tennis teams.

*Coupeville, the smallest 1A school in the state, is jumping to an all-1A division of the Olympic League next school year, where its counterparts will be Port Townsend, Chimacum and Klahowya. Softball and girls’ tennis both play Port Townsend this spring, giving them an early look at their future rivals.

BASEBALL

(Home games — 4 PM)

Mon-Mar. 17 @ South Whidbey
Wed-Mar. 19 South Whidbey
Fri-Mar. 21 @ South Whidbey
Sat-Mar. 29 @ Nooksack Valley
Mon-Mar. 31 @ ATM
Wed-April 2 ATM
Fri-April 4 @ ATM
Mon-April 7 Cedarcrest
Wed-April 9 @ Cedarcrest
Fri-April 11 Cedarcrest
Mon-April 14 Lakewood
Wed-April 16 @ Lakewood
Fri-April 18 Lakewood
Mon-April 21 Granite Falls
Wed-April 23 @ Granite Falls
Fri-April 25 Granite Falls
Mon-April 28 @ Sultan
Wed-April 30 Sultan
Fri-May 2 @ Sultan

BOYS SOCCER

(Home games — 6 PM)

Tue-Mar. 18 Friday Harbor
Tue-Mar. 25 Cedarcrest
Fri-Mar. 28 South Whidbey
Tues-April 1 @ Lakewood
Fri-April 4 Sultan
Tues-April 8 @ ATM
Fri-April 11 Granite Falls
Mon-April 14 @ King’s
Wed-April 16 @ Cedarcrest
Fri-April 18 @ South Whidbey
Mon-April 21 @ Friday Harbor
Tues-April 22 Lakewood
Fri-April 25 @ Sultan
Tues-April 29 ATM
Fri-May 2 @ Granite Falls
Mon-May 5 King’s

GIRLS TENNIS

(Home matches — 3:30 PM)

Mon-Mar. 17 Port Townsend
Tues-Mar. 18 Friday Harbor
Fri-Mar. 20 @ Blaine
Mon-Mar. 24 @ South Whidbey
Wed-Mar. 26 Lakewood
Tue-April 15 ATM
Thur-April 17 @ Granite Falls
Mon-April 21 @ Friday Harbor
Tues-April 22 South Whidbey
Thur-April 24 Lakewood
Mon-April 28 @ Port Townsend
Tues-April 29 Granite Falls
Thur-May 1 @ ATM

SOFTBALL

(Home games — 4 PM)

Mon-Mar. 17 @ Port Townsend
Tues-Mar. 18 South Whidbey
Wed-Mar. 19 @ ATM
Tues-Mar. 25 @ Sultan
Thur-Mar. 27 Cedarcrest
Mon-Mar. 31 Lakewood
Wed-April 2 Granite Falls
Fri-April 4 @ South Whidbey
Tues-April 8 @ ATM
Mon-April 14 @ Sultan
Wed-April 16 Cedarcrest
Fri-April 18 Lakewood
Tues-April 22 Granite Falls
Thur-April 24 @ South Whidbey
Tues-April 29 ATM
Mon-May 5 South Whidbey
Wed-May 7 @ Cedarcrest
Fri-May 9 @ Lakewood
Tues-May 13 @ Granite Falls

TRACK

Thur-Mar. 20 @ Oak Harbor Jamboree
Sat-Mar. 22 @ Seattle Academy Relays
Thur-Mar. 27 @ Sultan
Thur-April 10 @ Cedarcrest
Thur-April 17 @ King’s
Thur-April 24 @ Cedarcrest
Sat-April 26 @ Mountlake Terrace Invite
Thur-May 1 @ Granite Falls
Thur-May 8/Fri-May 9 @ Cascade Conference League Meet (King’s)
Wed-May 14/Fri-May 16 @ Districts (Lynden Christian)
Thur-May 22/Fri-May 23 @ Tri-Districts (King’s)
Fri-May 30/Sat-May 31 @ State (Cheney)

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