Coupeville Sports

Sean Donley netted his first goal Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

They are the hardest-playing 0-11 squad in all the land.

But, despite the fight and effort, a bounce or two each way has denied the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team all season.

Tuesday night, it was two goals in the final nine minutes of the game, as host South Whidbey slipped past the Wolves 3-1 in an all-Island showdown.

“The game was hotly contested in the second half, with both teams threatening to score numerous times,” said Wolf coach Paul Mendes. “It was a much more even match than the first time we played them. The effort was good right to the end.”

The Falcons got on the board first, when Stephen Lyons popped a shot into the net at the 22-minute mark. But, just two minutes later, Sean Donley broke free and answered with his first goal of the season.

The two teams then battled toe-to-toe for nearly 50 minutes of sparkling defense, before South Whidbey found the eventual winning goal on the foot of Bryce Auburn in the 71st minute. Lyons tacked on a final score four minutes later.

Coupeville returns immediately to the pitch today, when it hosts Friday Harbor at 4:30 PM in a non-conference game.

The two teams opened the season back in mid-March and the Wolves lost a 1-0 heart-breaker on the road when they were betrayed by the elements.

Playing on an extremely muddy field, Nathan Lamb beat the goalie for what would have been the tying goal, but was denied when a giant mud puddle swallowed the shot centimeters from the net.

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Luke Pelant and his team have played strongly in 2013, but can’t seem to catch a break. (John Fisken photo)

It probably wouldn’t be as frustrating if they were bad.

If the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad was being blown out 15-0 every game, you would accept it and move on. But this is a team with talent, a team led by veterans who have had quite a bit of success the past few seasons.

So, being unable to catch a break, any break, this season, has to be frustrating.

Case in point, Friday night, as the Wolves battled a very good Lakewood team through a scoreless 80 minutes, then through overtime, before falling at the very end of a rainy night by that most arbitrary of soccer endings, the shootout.

The loss drops Coupeville to 0-10 on the season, 0-9 in Cascade Conference play, and is the sixth time this season the Wolves have been denied by a single goal.

CHS coach Paul Mendes remained upbeat, even in the face of a universe seemingly bent on shafting his team.

“We are continuing to close the gap,” Mendes said. “If we keep working hard, some breaks will come our way…”

Facing off with a Cougar team that improved to 7-2-2, Coupeville put together one of its better offensive games, but couldn’t get the soccer gods to open the net just an inch or two more.

Nathan Lamb, returning from an injury, had a nice look at the net in the first half but the Lakewood goalie snared the ball.

In the second half, the Wolves pressed hard, with Luke Pelant pulling a header just wide of the left post, before Nathan Kircher split two defenders and fed Josh Wilsey, only to have Wilsey’s shot deflected at the last second.

In the shootout, Wolf goalie Kole Kellison came up big, but Lakewood goalie Sam Roe did him one better, denying Coupeville a win in front of their rain-soaked fans.

The Wolves have six regular season games left on their schedule, with three next week. They travel to South Whidbey Tuesday, April 16, before hosting Friday Harbor Wednesday and Sultan Friday.

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     Kole Kellison, seen here in a game earlier this season, made several spectacular saves Wednesday.

“Hey ref, have a nice trip back to Cedarcrest on the school bus with the team!”

The mood was not a happy one Wednesday, as Coupeville High School boys’ soccer fans announced their displeasure with the three-man referee crew loudly and often.

From a highly questionable call that set the visitors up with a game-busting penalty kick to a yellow card being issued to Josh Wilsey after he seemed to be the one getting roughed up, a fair amount of calls seemed to go against the Wolves.

Though even the most ardent of fans would have to admit that the 4-0 loss couldn’t totally be laid at the feet of the refs.

For one thing, being blind, they wouldn’t see anything at their feet…

The defeat, Coupeville’s ninth straight to open the season, wasn’t for a lack of effort. Goaltender Kole Kellison made numerous saves, some brilliant, and the goals that did get past him weren’t easy shots to snuff.

The Wolves scrapped on defense, with Brett Arnold, Luke Pelant and Danny Savalza frequently putting their bodies in harms way, but the team’s season-long offensive struggles continued. Despite a couple of brief looks at the net, Coupeville was blanked for the sixth time this year.

Trailing 1-0 in a hard-fought, evenly-matched scrap, the Wolves got knifed in the back with 18 minutes to play in the first half.

Out of the box and fighting for his life, Kellison blocked a shot, ended up on the ground and went after the ball as a Cedarcrest player went to kick it.

To everyone but the ref, it appeared the Cedarcrest striker slipped and went down on his own, but Kellison was whistled for a penalty, setting up a penalty kick as the Wolf fans howled.

The resulting score seemed to break Coupeville’s spirit for a bit, but it regrouped in the second half, which became much, much rougher, with players from both teams thumping on each other.

Cedarcrest’s third goal was a spectacular one, as a laser shot went off the top bar and shot straight back to a Cedarcrest player, who buried the rebound in the corner of the net on a truly beautiful goal.

By that time, though, Wolf fans had had enough of the refs and were not in the mood to appreciate the rival artistry.

Wilsey went to the bench after his yellow card, followed by a flop of epic proportions by a visiting cream puff, who did a cartwheel after being brushed by a Wolf and then popped up and made a dramatic, Oscar-worthy show of crying as, for once, the ref ignored him.

Of course, if the ref was blind, maybe he just didn’t see his theatrics…

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Jeremy Copenhaver doin’ what he does. (John Fisken photo)

For 54 minutes, it looked like a win.

Unfortunately, high school soccer games are 80 minutes long, and eventually a scrappy Coupeville High School defense fell under the onslaught of goal scorer extraordinaire Lucas Swanson Monday night.

With Swanson finding the back of the net three times in less than 30 minutes, visiting King’s came from behind to edge the Wolves 3-1 in a close, highly competitive game that CHS coach Paul Mendes hailed as “the best we played all season.”

“We are making progress and need to keep working hard to improve our game,” Mendes added.

Now 0-8 overall, 0-7 in Cascade Conference play, the Wolves will look to turn things around in the second half of the season. Five of their final eight games will be at home, with a sixth just down the road in Langley against South Whidbey.

Two bright signs pointing forward are the goal-scoring touch of sophomore forward Jeremy Copenhaver, who netted his second score of the season, and the solid play in the net of sophomore Joel Walstad, standing in for starter Kole Kellison.

Copenhaver opened the scoring on an unassisted play, dribbling by two players for a “close-range, well-placed shot” at the 22-minute mark.

“It was a good start for us, putting their defense under a lot of pressure early on,” Mendes said.

The Wolves clung to the lead until well after halftime, with the eventual game-winner not coming until there was just four minutes left on the clock.

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