Kirsten Pelroy had the best slide of the afternoon, blowing up an Eagle and taking away the ball. (John Fisken photo)
The gap has narrowed.
Last year, as it romped to a 21-2 record en route to a 1A state title, the Klahowya High School girls’ soccer team drilled most of its opponents.
And, while they held up considerably better than Olympic League companions Port Townsend and Chimacum, Coupeville was firmly among the victims, falling 5-0 and 4-0.
Jump ahead a year, and, even though the Wolves lost a chunk of seniors and are a very young team, CHS held its own Saturday against the defending champs.
While it fell 2-0 on its home turf, Coupeville (3-5-3 overall, 1-1 in league play) was never out of the match, and Klahowya (8-3-1, 2-0) was nowhere near as dominating as before.
A shot goes in here, a loose ball takes a slightly different bounce, and the game goes in a different direction.
Seriously.
Klahowya’s first score was more luck and being in the right place than anything else.
The Eagles blasted a ball at Wolf goalie Lauren Grove, who knocked it down but couldn’t quite corral it.
As the ball popped off her arm, it took a perfect Klahowya bounce, threading two Wolves to land right on the foot of an enterprising Emily Peters, who banked it over the outstretched fingers of a now out-of-place Grove.
After that, the Coupeville junior, a first-year player, was on lock-down the rest of the first half, going to her knees and climbing a stairway to heaven depending on the situation, while coming away with a variety of saves.
The Wolves were aggressive — Kirsten Pelroy used a sliding tackle to upend an Eagle in the open field, then Coupeville almost got the goal back when May Rose tried to replicate Peters play.
Unfortunately, this time the rebound slid just a bit too far to the side, letting Klahowya escape unscathed.
The Eagles widened the lead early in the second half, when Peters popped a shot over diving Wolf defender Jenn Spark. Again, move a leg an inch or two, and the goal is a no go.
Desperate to get on the board, Coupeville pushed the attack in the second half, with leading scorers Kalia and Mia Littlejohn leading the charge.
The siblings got several looks at the net, but a pesky Eagle defense stayed strong and blunted their best efforts.
Afterwards, if you didn’t look at the scoreboard and just tried to read the mood of the upbeat Wolf team, you might have thought they had won.
The overwhelming feeling? Mark Oct. 26 on your calendar.
That’s the second meeting of the two squads, this time at Klahowya.
And it is, without a doubt, a game the Wolves think they can win, because the gap has really, truly narrowed.
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Coupeville Sports 