Uriel Liquidano and Coupeville sit atop the (very) early 1A Olympic League boys soccer standings. (John Fisken photo)
If the scoreboard had been working, it would have gotten some serious use.
Fighting back from a two-goal deficit, the Coupeville High School boys soccer squad rallied Tuesday to upend visiting Chimacum 4-3 in the home and league opener.
The win lifts the Wolves to 1-0-1 on the season, and at 1-0 they sit alone atop the 1A Olympic League, at least for a day or two.
Having taken a sizable hit to graduation, the new-look Wolves took the pitch looking to get out early on the Cowboys, only to see one shot after another barely miss.
While the scoreboard sputtered, then sat useless, Aram Leyva, Mason Grove and William Nelson all came close, but couldn’t get the ball to drop into the net.
Taking advantage, a much-improved Chimacum squad pulled off back-to-back first half goals (who knows when they were scored, cause, you know … no clock) to startle the patrons with a 2-0 lead.
The first goal came on a one-man rampage down the left sideline by Carter McCleary, who snatched the ball, shredded three defenders, then hooked the ball into the far corner of the net.
Shortly afterwards, during a wild scrum in front of the net, a Cowboy got his toe on the ball and skittered it past Coupeville goalie Mathew Shreffner, who was partially blocked on the play.
Thankfully, the Wolves never panicked, instead calmly going on a three-goal rampage to close out the half.
Ethan Spark broke the seal on the net by hitting a miracle shot.
Crunching a laser, he caught the left post and ricocheted the ball past a startled Cowboy net-minder.
Placement was key, since if the ball had hit slightly to the side, it would have likely shot off in a completely different direction.
Having caught a bit of (well-placed) luck, the Wolves surged, with freshmen James Wood and Leyva tallying the tying and go-ahead scores.
Wood, coming in hot on the left side, knocked a ball loose, then pegged a shot over the goalie’s arms to knot things at 2-2, then turned around and set up his fellow frosh on the next charge down the field.
This time back on the right side, Wood dropped a picture-perfect pass across the pitch, where Leyva collected it and punched in the first goal of his high school career.
Which leaves him just 44 behind the school career record set by his older brother Abraham.
The second half turned into more of a defensive stalemate, but a visibly-tiring Chimacum squad managed to re-tie the game when a ball was poked in during a wild scramble in front of the net.
Coupeville’s edge in conditioning paid off, however, as the Wolves pushed hard in the game’s final minutes, sending shot after shot at the Cowboy net.
The all-out assault hit pay dirt when Spark smacked home his second goal of the night, and third of the season, in the waning moments.
With his defense, led by Uriel Liquidano, Teo Keilwitz and Axel Partida, holding the line, Wolf goalie Brian Roberts turned away several shots late to preserve the win for himself and tag-team partner Shreffner.
Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson walked off the field in first place and pleased with how his team responded to early adversity.
“It was a good team effort; we have a lot of new guys and they’re learning to play with each other,” he said. “It was a pretty good match-up, which is good, because it pushes us harder.”
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