Seniors (left to right) Solomon Rudat, Sage Arends, and Sam Richards have led CHS soccer to the top of the Northwest 2B/1B League. (Julie Wheat photo)
They like the view from the top of the mountain.
Sparked by a pair of long-range goals from Chayse Van Velkinburgh and anchored by a stout defense, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad held off visiting Lopez Island in a nailbiter Monday, moving into a tie for first place in the ten-team Northwest 2B/1B League.
With a 2-1 win over the scrappy Lobos, the Wolves get to 3-0 in conference action, 6-2 overall, and are tied with two-time defending state champ Orcas Island (3-0, 8-0-1), a half-game up on Mount Vernon Christian (2-0, 5-0-2).
Next up for CHS is a road trip Wednesday to face Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood (0-2, 2-5), before a Saturday showdown with MVC at Mickey Clark Field.
The Wolves, who have already topped last year’s win total, when they finished 5-9, have seven regular-season games left on the schedule, culminating in a home finale October 28 against the aforementioned Orcas Island.
With six of the 10 NWL teams making the playoffs, Coupeville finds itself in a good place at the halfway point, while also knowing it can’t overlook anyone if it wants to clinch a postseason berth.
And while Lopez entered play Monday winless on the season, the Lobos are better than the record might indicate.
They had a plan — clamp down on defense with all 11 players and try and keep Coupeville’s high-powered shooters off balance.
It almost worked. Almost.
Van Velkinburgh wasn’t having it, however, cracking off a left-footed laser from way out on the prairie six-and-a-half minutes into play, the ball slamming past the Lobo goaltender and nestling into the back of the net.
It would be a very long time until any more scores found paydirt, however.
The teams waged a war of attrition across the remainder of the first half, with brothers Sam and Josh Richards combining to blank Lopez in goal.
The former, a senior leader, went down with an injury after getting tangled up with one of his defenders, but his younger sibling, a freshman who normally plays defender, stepped up and made several snags on incoming balls to keep things cool.
Sam Richards returned after the halftime break as the injury didn’t prove to be fatal, and the intense Wolf defense, led by Brian Thompson and Wyatt Fitch-Marron, provided him with plenty of cover.
The game seemed fated to end at 1-0 until both teams broke through with epic long shots.
Chayse Van Velkinburgh (1) always enjoys a good goal. (Jackie Saia photo)
Van Velkinburgh crushed another score from somewhere out around Anacortes, rattling home his fifth goal of the season, to push CHS ahead 2-0, only to have Lopez slip in a missile of a free kick from out in the great beyond.
That put it back at a one-goal game with six minutes to play and set up an edge-of-your seat ending as both teams crashed hard at the net, but couldn’t bust through.
One of the Lopez players did connect with the lead ref’s noggin, accidentally whacking the ball off the older dude’s face and sending him sprawling end-over-end.
After a few moments of concern, the official proved more durable than first thought, returning to action and continuing to be more than a bit feisty in his reprimands to any perceived lawbreakers.
The Lobos, trying desperately to find one more goal to force a tie and collect a point in the league standings, launched a final deep ball to drive everyone’s hearts into the pit of their stomachs.
No worries, however, as Wolf ace Shiloh Sandlin sacrificed his body to clear the ball away from the danger zone, send it flying back from whence it came, and seal the deal on a Wolf Nation victory special.
In the postgame celebration, Coupeville coach Jim Kunz offered praise to assistant coaches Matt Sandlin and Dustin Van Velkinburgh for their contributions to the growth of the team and pointed to his defenders as a major key to nailing down the win.
“Our defense was locked in,” he said. “Brian (Thompson) has been instrumental to our success, today and all season. He makes smart choices and always keeps his cool back there.”
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