Ema Smith did “an awesome job in box” while sharing goaltender duties with Lauren Grove Tuesday night. (John Fisken photos)
Mallory Kortuem (left) and Megan DePorter (23) both had strong games against 2A Sequim.
Troy Cowan had a quandary.
As Coupeville High School girls soccer coach, he wants to win every time his team takes the pitch.
That being said, he went into play Tuesday at Sequim with a checklist of items: several key players with nagging injuries, multiple bench players who hadn’t seen much action and the knowledge the game, as a non-conference affair, wasn’t life or death.
So, Cowan took the practical route, sitting starting defender Lindsey Roberts (“she desperately needed a day of rest”), playing back-up goalie Ema Smith for a half and running in every one of his subs for substantial playing time.
And Coupeville still largely held its own against a 2A squad while playing on the road.
While Sequim slipped a pair of second-half goals into the net to escape with a 2-0 victory, Cowan came away 99% pleased with what he saw (he still wanted a win).
“It was a loss but felt like a win,” he said “The girls played really awesome; I am so proud of all of them!”
The defeat drops Coupeville to 6-4-1 on the season.
The Wolves have another non-conference game Saturday at Bellevue Christian, before they begin their final run of league games.
CHS currently sits at 4-1, a half-game off of Klahowya (4-0) for first place in the 1A Olympic League.
With Roberts idle and Lauren Bayne running at about 50%, Cowan juggled his defensive lineup, even moving goaltender Lauren Grove out of the net and into the field after a scoreless first half.
With Grove set to graduate this spring, sophomore Ema Smith is her heir apparent and she got a rare chance to anchor the defense against Sequim.
“Ema did an awesome job in box,” Cowan said. “She came out strong and stopped several scoring attempts and her drop kick was impressive.”
He also praised the play of Megan Thorn, Cassidy Moody and foreign exchange student Fanny Deprelle, as well as young guns Tia Wurzrainer and Mallory Kortuem.
“Those two did a terrific job tonight and worked really well together!,” Cowan said.
Two Wolf stars, midfielder Sage Renninger and defender Megan DePorter, anchored the squad all night.
“Sage was our offensive spark plug tonight, winning so many balls and starting our offensive runs,”Cowan said. “She was just tremendous tonight and really leads by example.
“Megan was our lifesaver. Multiple times Sequim had what looked like sure goal scoring breakaways and from out of nowhere came screaming Megan to save the day!!,” he added.
“She really found another gear tonight and was absolutely fearless.”
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