Coupeville Sports

(Kali Barrio photos)

How dangerous is Micky LeVine on the soccer pitch? She doesn’t even need her feet to score a goal.

Capping her team’s “best soccer of the year,” LeVine used her thigh to re-direct a cross from Ayla Muller into the back of the net Saturday, earning the Whidbey Islanders GU17 squad a hard-earned 1-1 tie.

Coming against a much-older Seattle United Shoreline team (a true U18 squad while the Islanders only have one 17-year old on their squad), the game also marked the first time Whidbey had its full 15-woman roster to call on.

That changed, unfortunately, when Selina Medina fractured her right foot when she connected with a rival player’s shin guard right as she unleashed a rocket shot.

“She will be missed,” said Islander coach Sean LeVine. “But she’ll be back; she is one of the toughest young ladies I know.”

Seattle got on the board first, banging home a shot from 12 yards out that barely slid past the Islander goaltender. From that point on, though, it was lights-out time for the Whidbey defense.

“Our girls possessed the ball for probably 75% of the match, and played that much on their half,” LeVine said. “It seemed like everything we’ve been working on for the past few months finally clicked. Our defense solidified and their two best players were a non-factor for the rest of the game.”

Islander defenders Alyssa Cross and Paige Waterman led the defensive stand, clamping down on anything, and anyone, who wandered into their territory.

“They had great games, shutting those players down and creating many opportunities with good passing and forward runs,” LeVine said.

Muller and LeVine teamed up for their score in the game’s 70th minute and the Islanders continued to rain down other shots that just missed. Kendra Warwick lobbed in several corner kicks to Waterman and Matti Miesle faked out the goalie and set up a shot for Muller that went wide by the slimmest of margins.

With a strong team effort and a tie against a ferocious team, LeVine exited the weekend quite pleased. Adding to his joy — a bigger cheering section.

“Our fan base is growing as we had several Coupeville and Oak Harbor High School boys and girls out to watch yesterday and today and parents who don’t have kids on the team,” LeVine said. “My friend Bob Martin came out to watch, and he said “Wow! I didn’t realize how intense soccer is!”

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Cassie Neil

Soccer is the beautiful game, but even the beautiful game can be agony at times.

That rare mix, of sublime play, and one, small gut-stabbing error, was on display at Ft. Nugent Saturday, as the Whidbey Islanders GU17 soccer squad lost a 1-0 heart-breaker.

A game that they dominated, start to finish, took one bad bounce and ended up, against all odds, in the loss column. In one of those quirks of fate, an own goal sealed the Islanders fate.

The game’s defining play came on a melee in front of the net in the second half. Fighting for position, the Islander defenders shut down a striker with the ball, but when one Whidbey player went to clear the ball with her non-dominant foot, it took a bigger skip than expected and sailed over the head of keeper Kenzie Perry, plopping into the back of the net.

“She felt horrible, but it happens,” said Whidbey coach Sean LeVine.

In a side note, LeVine barely missed being part of the most famous own goal in Island history. He was an eighth-grader when the Oak Harbor High School boys’ soccer squad lost 1-0 in the state semifinals when a Wildcat defender, who went on to play college ball, tried to clear the ball in the game’s waning moments.

Accustomed to playing on grass, the ‘Cat tapped the ball, and watched in horror as it took a bigger bounce than expected on a turf field, shooting past his goalie and denying Oak Harbor a berth in the state title game.

Like that OHHS squad, the Islanders are a scrappy bunch who never stop coming, and their play all around the accidental goal pleased LeVine.

“We absolutely dominated possession on their half for the entire first half,” LeVine said. “We played the best soccer I have seen all season!”

Striker Matti Miesle, a speed demon, had Whidbey’s best chance to score. She challenged the goalie on a one-on-one, but was denied at the last moment by a beautiful diving save.

The game also marked the return of Cassie Neil, who had missed several months after a back injury. Her physical therapy behind her, the exuberant Neil took advantage of the limited time she was allowed to play Saturday, earning the team’s hustle award.

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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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