Coupeville Sports

Lady Scraps-A-Lot. (Kerry Rosenkranz photo)

If Micky LeVine wasn’t so naturally sweet-natured, there might be some girls with missing front teeth right now.

For the second game in a row, opposing players tried to get overly rough with her GU17 Whidbey Islanders’ teammates, and LeVine wasn’t having it Saturday afternoon.

This time around, a mouthy Port Angeles Storm King lipped off to the Islander players and parents, as well as the ref, then tried to get “extra touchy” with Ayla Muller. Enter LeVine, aka “The Enforcer,” and exit the Port Angeles girl, who realized her mistake and decided not to encounter LeVine’s other alter ego, “The Two-Fisted Terror.”

Perhaps it was LeVine holding up her fists and talking into them. “Check one! Check two!”

“Shhhhhhhh … no one tell Micky she’s the smallest one on the team. This is working out well,” said Islander coach (and dad) Sean LeVine.

“I don’t know where she gets it! Must be her mom!,” he added with a laugh.

LeVine’s willingness to stand up for her teammates again, and the fact the Islanders ignored a hostile verbal assault in the parking lot from Port Angeles morons (well, they do choose to live in Port Angeles…) were the bright spots in a 2-0 loss that dropped Whidbey to 1-4-4 on the season.

“On sportsmanship, the example that their team displayed on the field and in the parking lot (players, parents, and coach) is an example of what not to do,” LeVine wrote on his team’s Facebook wall. “Keep cool, play soccer, no mouthiness, help your teammates out, but walk away from or ignore their nastiness, ALWAYS play hard, but be a team of grace and you win every time! I love this team!”

The Islanders had numerous shots on goal, but none could quite find that groove to skip past the goaltender. Port Angeles popped in a fluke goal, then benefited from a mistake where the Islander defenders got momentarily mixed up on coverage and left players open in front of the net.

Once again playing with limited subs due to injuries and illness (team captain Becca Pabona is out for two weeks), the Islanders got whacked around even more by the rough play Saturday.

Kendra Warwick took a shot to the face and stayed on the field for several minutes before realizing she was having trouble moving her jaw. A few minutes of ice on the sideline and back she went in, however.

Vivien Valles twisted an ankle that has already been bothering her, but also tried to reenter the game after a brief encounter with an ice pack.

Sean LeVine lauded the goal-tending of team captain Kenzie Perry and handed his team’s hustle award to Morgan Zylstra, who had to move into unfamiliar territory and play with the defenders.

“She had to play with the back four, where she never plays, but she more than held her own without a break!”, LeVine said. “Her hustle and scrappy style kept that team at bay.”

“That is stepping up, filling big shoes and being a true team player!”

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Micky LeVine, seen here tracking a ball during her high school season, may be relatively small, but she packs a punch. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Ride together, die together.

Like a biker gang, but with much better fashion sense, the booters who form the GU17 Whidbey Islanders soccer squad defend their own. Mess with one of them and you will have five to answer to. Really mess with them and you’re going to meet Micky “The Enforcer” LeVine.

You’re not going to enjoy that.

Playing a very aggressive Milton team on the road in a match that started rough and then turned painful Sunday, the moment that will be remembered longest is the diminutive LeVine taking on both an opposing player and a referee in defense of teammate Becca Pabona.

“The whole team had each others backs,” said Islander coach Scott Rosenkranz. “Micky had had enough and stepped in to let some opposing players and the ref know Becca had been roughed up perhaps a little too much, in her opinion. That got everyone’s attention.”

At that point, Erin Rosenkranz had left with a bloody nose (after taking a soccer ball to the face), goalie Kenzie Perry had been sidelined after taking a wicked shot to the back and Jacki Ginnings had endured a badly-mashed hand. With Pabona, one of the Islanders’ top offensive weapons, being repeatedly whacked, enter LeVine, who was ready to lay a girl out.

“We knew going into this game it was going to be tough, but we did not expect the nastiness and brutality from this team,” LeVine said. “Not only were they nasty with their physical play but they had a problem with keeping their mouths shut.”

Tension built after a series of cheap shots and finally boiled over on a play late in the game.

“Becca was shielding off a player and after the ball was way out of bounds, the girl pushed her from behind,” LeVine said. “I was fed up with them getting away with it so I gave the girl a shove and told her to calm down and she turned around and shoved me with both hands.

“The referee came and broke us up, but then tried to yell at me and Becca for it,” she added. “After a little argument with the ref he was threatening to card me and it’s a good thing I was subbed out before I went after that ref, ha ha…”

Despite losing 3-0, LeVine came away very proud of how her teammates rallied to each others defense time and again.

“After the game I received lots of high fives and hugs from my team. It was a pretty great moment,” she said. “Win or lose, we still appreciate the smallest things in the game that make us smile and we still have our pride and we have each other and we would not trade this team for anything.”

While the Islanders didn’t score, they came close several times, with Selina Medina, Vivien Valles and Perry, returning to the field after her injury, pushing play. Perry even got some payback, making a superb sliding tackle that delighted her teammates (and earned her a yellow card from an obviously biased ref.)

With Perry unable to play in goal in the second half, Morgan Zlystra, who was battling through a fever, stepped in and manned the net in the second half.

From LeVine bringing the thunder to numerous players staying on the field through pain, the Islanders impressed their coach, who gave the game hustle award not to a single player, but to the team as a whole.

“There was no quit in the girls today and we walked off the field smiling despite the score,” Scott Rosenkranz said. “Once again I have to say I’m proud of how they come together and play for each other.

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      The GU17 squad celebrates, little realizing that #1 fan Ethan Spark (far right, green hat) is photo bombing them. (Kali Barrio photo)

The Steel Curtain came to play.

Sparked by the stellar defensive play of its back line, the Whidbey Islanders GU17 select soccer squad fought to an impressive 0-0 tie against Seattle United SOUTH G’95 on the road Sunday.

The tie, the second in as many days for a squad depleted by injury and illness (they had one sub Sunday after having a completely empty bench a day before), left the Islanders at 1-2-3 on the season.

With both teams firing away at point-blank range, it was Islanders goalie Kenzie Perry and her support group (defenders Jennifer Spark, Jacki Ginnings, Paige Waterman and Alyssa Cross) who stepped up big-time. With Spark laying down beautiful slide tackles on anyone foolhardy enough to enter her territory, the unit was unbreakable.

“Good communication, good movement, great hustle, extremely aggressive and impenetrable once again,” said coach Sean LeVine as he prepared to flee the cold fog of Washington state for a vacation in sunny Cabo.

Before he departed, LeVine was impressed with the way his team hung in, despite still struggling to have a full roster.

“Despite having zero subs yesterday and only one today, the ladies held their own and did not give up,” LeVine said. “If we can hold teams to a draw on our tough days, then we ought to be a force when we are at full strength.”

The Islanders pushed the attack relentlessly in the second half, but couldn’t get a goal to fall. Erin Rosenkranz unloaded a point-blank shot that was snuffed, while Vivien Valles went low with a shot into the corner that the Seattle goalie managed to flick out of the net at the last second.

Along with his stout defense, LeVine also singled out the play of Kendra Warwick, who continues to be a multifaceted threat.

“Kendra continues to be a spark on this team with her speed, hustle, and tenacity,” LeVine said. “She creates a lot of chances for us.”

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   Becca Pabona (far right, blue coat) was smiling Saturday, as well, after she scored her team’s lone goal. (Kali Barrio photo)

It was iron woman soccer.

Playing minus four sick booters (Selena Medina, Ayla Muller, Emily Miesle and Cassie Neil) the Whidbey Islanders GU17 soccer squad had a painfully empty bench Saturday. Still, even without subs, they held their own and eked out a 1-1 tie with visiting Seattle United West.

Now 1-2-2 on the season, the Islanders were led by goalie Kenzie Perry, who played virtually flawlessly while pulling the entire 90 minutes in net. Whidbey coach Sean LeVine also singled out the commitment of Morgan Zylstra (“Played three different positions today and played them well! Great hustle!”) and gave the team’s hustle award to Erin Rosenkranz.

“She came back from her illness as a force!,” LeVine said. “Erin played all over the field today and did not appear to get tired. She played aggressive and refused to give up.”

Rosenkranz had a cross to Becca Pabona that came “a gnat’s toe” away from being poked into the back of the net, but Pabona hit pay dirt later when she hooked up with teammate Vivien Valles for their team’s lone score.

“Vivien scrapped her way into the box, leaving her victims shocked and weeping as she refused to let that ball out,” LeVine said.

Pabona finished with a half-volley, punching the ball past the flailing goalie.

LeVine came away satisfied with his team’s play, especially in light of the complete lack of firepower off the bench.

“Despite having zero substitutes today, they all played very hard and we still out-hustled and out-possessed them,” he said. “They fought through some pain and kept us in the game.”

The Islanders return to action with a game Sunday, Jan. 20, hopefully with more players available.

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“We can’t feel our legs!!” (Kali Barrio photos)

“My fingers are frozen this way!!”

If conditions were brutal Saturday, they were nearly unplayable Sunday.

Returning to the skating rink … uh … soccer field at Ft. Nugent, the Whidbey Islanders GU17 select soccer squad was barely able to play. After a tough 3-0 loss to Newport FC of Bellevue in the first of three State Cup tournament games, they might have wished they hadn’t.

Newport entered the game a huge favorite and did nothing to dispel that, pushing the action and notching two of their goals before halftime. The Islanders (1-2-1) changed up strategy in the second half, putting more attackers up front, but even then were unable to breach the visitors’ defense.

“I did expect that this team was going to be better than most teams we have faced and I was right,” said Islanders coach Sean LeVine. “They were bigger and older than 95% of our girls, but I also thought the ice rink we played on at Ft. Nugent would be an equalizer.”

Even getting the game started took a bit of time, as refs and coaches met and discussed postponing or cancelling the mid-winter game. For reasons that probably made little sense to fans who thought they were in Green Bay, the game went on.

“Field conditions were worse today than yesterday,” LeVine said. “The ground was very hard and slick. As the game went on, field conditions worsened as we witnessed more players sliding around.

“Field conditions are not the reason for the loss, though.”

Whidbey had scoring opportunities, but Newport escaped from harm’s way when Emily Miesle was tripped by the slick field as she went for one shot and Selena Medina crunched a second shot that was tipped over the bar at the last second by the goaltender.

LeVine singled out Jenn Spark for her play, which included a slide tackle on a speedy Newport player to save a one-on-one and a half volley, one touch shot off a throw in from Paige Waterman that just missed going in.

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