Coupeville Sports

Luke Pelant and his defense held fast all night long. (John Fisken photo)

All in all, it turned into a pretty nice Friday night in Coupeville.

After a few tentative showers, the rain went away, a rainbow came out and the Wolf boys’ soccer squad thrilled a near-capacity crowd with a scintillating 1-0 victory over visiting Sultan.

Running aggressively from the opening tip to the final whistle, Coupeville threw shot after shot at the Turk goalie, while their own young goaltender, sophomore Joel Walstad, made several superb saves while standing in for starter Kole Kellison.

The Wolves kept the majority of the action on Sultan’s side of the field, popping shots from every direction against Turk goaltender Danny Arroyo.

Josh Wilsey slammed a shot off the bar and Jeremy Copenhaver and Nathan Kircher narrowly missed on break-aways.

Still, with Arroyo and Walstad matching save after save, the game remained deadlocked until the 67th minute, when Wilsey combined skill and a wee bit of luck to collect his second goal of the season.

His initial shot was blocked, but it hit Arroyo’s chest and bounced right back to Wilsey on a perfect angle, allowing the Wolf senior to slam it past the now-defenseless Turk.

The resulting roar from the crowd would have drowned out any Navy jets flying overhead.

The Wolves weren’t out of the woods yet, however, as Sultan, watching the minutes tick down, came as hard as they had all night.

Coupeville refused to break, with defenders Luke Pelant, Brett Arnold, Jared Dickson and Tanner Kircher anchoring the last line line of resistance, outrunning and outgunning each Turk attack.

Behind them, playing the game of his young soccer career, was a resolute Walstad, who stood tall and played like a pro. Nothing was getting past him, to the eternal disappointment of a surprisingly large, and very vocal, Sultan fan base.

With every fan hanging on the edge of the seats as the seconds ticked down on the ref’s watch, Wilsey caught a final ball with his chest, moved it to his foot, flipped it skywards and then led the team celebration as the stands rocked behind him.

The second straight win for a suddenly surging Wolf squad, it bodes well as they head into the final week of regular season play. Coupeville plays three times next week, with one final home game — Senior Night — Wednesday, April 24 against Granite Falls.

JV action: The Wolves lost 5-1 in a game that stayed close until midway through the second half. Connor McCormick made several very strong saves in net, while Cameron Boyd-Eck netted Coupeville’s goal on a booming shot over the goalkeeper’s head.

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Tim Quinn (6) hugs Nathan Lamb after his goal.

Nathan Kircher does a little Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Jeremey Copenhaver cruises towards one of his three goals.

Lamb on the move.

Josh Wilsey sacrifices his noggin.

When the goals finally came, they poured down like rain.

After scoring four times in 11 games, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team found the magic touch Wednesday, pelting visiting Friday Harbor for five scores.

The sound of Wolf fans celebrating in the stands? Off the charts.

The photos are courtesy John Fisken. To see more of his work from the game, head over to http://www.nw1a2bathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=4023&league=5&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=45&sport=0&tab=1

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   Julia Myers and CJ Roberts enjoy the epic win, while Caleb Valko had a bad burrito for lunch and Nick Streubel is trying to get out of the wind. (John Fisken photo)

A cold, windy day just got a whole lot warmer for Coupeville High School boys’ soccer fans.

Raining down goals from every direction on visiting Friday Harbor Wednesday, the Wolves won their first game of the season, routing the Wolverines 5-1 and garnering a measure of revenge for what might have been their most agonizing loss.

The first time these two non-conference foes faced, way back in the season opener, Coupeville fell 1-0 on a horribly wet, muddy field when a dastardly mud puddle swallowed what would have been the tying goal.

This time there was no rain and no puddles, just a relentless wind that swept across the prairie, carrying the bellows of the soccer fans next door to where CHS baseball fans were making their own semi-frozen war whoops.

After scoring just four goals in their first 11 games, the Wolves had no trouble breaking through the defense on this day.

Super sophomore Jeremy Copenhaver led the attack, recording a hat trick to run his season scoring total to five.

After scoring on two breakaways, he capped the day with a goal on a free kick that CHS coach Paul Mendes hailed as “the best free kick I have seen in my time here at Coupeville.”

“He struck the ball hard over the defensive wall,” Mendes said. “The ball curved over the wall, and dipped down to find the upper left corner of the net. A great way to finish the day.”

Joining Copenhaver in the scoring rampage were junior Sean Donley, who punched in his second goal of the year, while assisting on another, and senior Nathan Lamb, the player denied by the mud puddle, who found sweet redemption with his first score.

With Coupeville playing stout defense in front of him, goaltender Kole Kellison was his usual stalwart self in the net.

“The win was well deserved and hard earned,” Mendes said. “It was especially satisfying since we had lost to them earlier in the season.

“It was a fine reward for all the work we have been doing,” he added. “It should give us some confidence as we approach the final stretch of the season.”

The Wolves return to action Friday, when they host Sultan. JV kicks off at 5, varsity at 7.

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