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CHS booters get historical

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , , on October 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Avalon Renninger scored Saturday as CHS girls soccer won for the first time in the playoffs. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sophia Martin scored twice in a 4-0 rout of Mount Baker.

Mollie Bailey stands around like a pro.

The Coupeville High School soccer goaltender had relatively little to do Saturday, which is a great thing, indicating her teammates were dominating what would turn out to be a landmark win.

Sparked by a pair of goals from sophomore Sophia Martin, the Wolf booters filled the nets at a pace not previously seen this season, torching visiting Mount Baker 4-0 in a district playoff play-in game.

The victory, which lifts CHS to 3-12-2 on the season, is the first playoff win in program history.

It also propels the Wolves into another loser-out postseason battle, this one coming Monday, when Coupeville travels to Bothell to face Cedar Park Christian, which sits at 8-6 on the season.

Win there, and the pride of Central Whidbey moves into double-elimination territory, needing one win in two games to advance to bi-districts.

To see the district tourney bracket, pop over to:

http://www.nscathletics.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=3117&sport=11

Regardless of how Monday plays out, the Wolves made program history Saturday, and did it twice.

There was the win, yes, but Coupeville had to make a big step before getting there.

They had to score in the playoffs, something no CHS girls soccer team had done.

Over the last decade, the Wolf booters had played eight postseason bouts, three against Vashon Island, three against Meridian, and one each against Lynden Christian and Charles Wright Academy.

Along the way, while frequently forced to play on artificial turf, Coupeville had been outscored 22-0.

Jump forward to Saturday, and the Wolves were free to romp once again on the natural grass which covers Coupeville’s Mickey Clark Field.

They were still missing injured starters Genna Wright and Eryn Wood, but got Natalie Hollrigel and Sophia Martin back in uniform, and that paid dividends.

Moments after dropping a rival player on her rear on the opposite side of the field, ever-elusive Mallory Kourtuem set up a magical moment in time in front of Baker’s goal.

Sucking the defense to her, the CHS senior shielded the ball from her defender, then banged a quick shot into the middle of a mad scrum of players.

It wasn’t just a wild shot, but a pass with a purpose, as Kortuem’s laser landed exactly where she wanted it to be – on Martin’s toe.

Making a bang-bang play, the Wolf sharpshooter punched the ball into the left side of the net, burying the orb into the back of the net before the Mount Baker goalie could move.

Without probably knowing it, the CHS duo had made history, possibly bringing a sigh of sweet relief from their coach, Kyle Nelson, as he paced the sideline.

The Wolf head man had entered the afternoon well aware of Coupeville’s postseason scoring drought, something he was intent on ending.

Whether or not his players knew of their tango with history, they kept up the pressure on the field, thoroughly controlling the flow of the game.

Audrianna Shaw missed (but just barely) on a shot which slid to the left of the net, before Martin banged a shot which tore off a chunk of the cross bar but somehow refused to flop into the net.

She got her revenge a few moments later, however, connecting on her second goal of the day, spinning and chopping the ball over the goalie’s shoulder.

With the celebration in full effect, the Wolves were lights-out the rest of the way.

On offense, Coupeville tacked on a pair of second-half goals, with Anna Dion singing the net with her second score in as many games, before Avalon Renninger blew out the back of the net with a long bomb.

Her team-leading sixth goal of the season, it gives the exuberant Wolf senior 12 scores for her stellar career, which puts her fifth on the CHS girls career scoring list.

Plus it made Grandma and Grandpa Renninger, the most-faithful fans in town, very happy, so there’s that, too.

And Bailey?

She was content to be the loneliest girl in town, fielding just a handful of scattered shots, none of which came close to being halfway-dangerous.

Most of Bailey’s time was spent watching her defenders flex their biceps.

First exhibit: fierce frosh Nezi Keiper parking a Baker girl on her butt after administering a hip check which could be heard all the way up in the press box.

As the Wolf booters celebrated history in the moments after the game’s conclusion, Coupeville volleyball ace Maya Toomey-Stout, a big fan of big hits, wandered by, nodding her head approvingly.

“Hell yeah!!!” she said, and then she smiled.

It was a sentiment shared by one and all in Wolf Nation.

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Anna Dion is a golden goddess

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , , , , on October 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Audrianna Shaw played big Thursday, as CHS soccer won a 1-0 thriller to earn a home playoff game. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Anna Dion, seen on Senior Night, scored the night’s only goal.

Home cookin’ paid off nicely.

Coupeville and Sultan played three high school girls soccer games this fall, with the host team coming out on top 1-0 each time.

Good news for Wolf fans? The final two meetings, including one Thursday night in a league tie-breaker, were played on Whidbey Island.

With a playoff berth at stake, CHS senior Anna Dion survived a wild scrum in front of the net in stoppage time, bashing in the night’s only goal in a must-win game.

With the victory, Coupeville, which sits at 2-12-2, earns the North Sound Conference’s fifth, and final, ticket to the postseason.

While Sultan is left to plan its awards banquet, the Wolves host the #4 seed from the Northwest Conference Saturday at Mickey Clark Field.

Kickoff is 1 PM, the game is free of charge to the public, and the opponent will be Mount Baker, which is 0-16 on the season.

The winner of Saturday’s royal rumble advances to play Cedar Park Christian in another loser-out district playoff game Monday in Bothell.

Thursday night’s tilt featured two very evenly-matched teams, especially with the Wolves missing injured starters Genna Wright, Natalie Hollrigel, and Sophia Martin.

Even minus that trio, Coupeville has a better offense than Sultan, but the Turks counter with senior goaltender Amanda McKay, who lets very, very little get past her.

“She is an awesome goalie,” said Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson. “I think she might be the best in the league.”

With the Wolves peppering her with shots, or, in the case of Avalon Renninger, flat-out blowing her up in an inadvertent collision (more on that later), McKay was under constant attack.

You’d never know it, however, as the Turk net-minder played calmly, moved smoothly, anticipated nearly everything, and gave her team a fighting chance.

On the opposite side of the field, Coupeville junior goalie Mollie Bailey didn’t face as many shots, but stood just as tall.

Playing for all the generations of her family which have worn the Wolf colors (spoiler: it’s a lot), the prairie legend dove for balls, deflected shots, and made a superb snag to deny a Turk corner kick which got dangerously close to hitting pay-dirt.

Bailey had help from her defense, anchored by old-school warrior Tia Wurzrainer and new-school sensations Nezi Keiper and Carolyn Lhamon.

Toss in Audrianna Shaw, who spent much of the night knocking Sultan players on their butt, and Coupeville was in full-on lock-down mode.

But while the Wolves kept one half of the scoreboard sitting with a nice big zero on it, all the shooters in the world didn’t seem able to break McKay.

Mallory Kortuem, zipping in and out of traffic, ball on her foot as she out-raced Turk defenders, crashed the net hard, while Renninger rifled high, arcing shots off of her golden left foot.

To which McKay replied, “Denied. Denied. And denied some more.”

Right after making a sensational diving save on a Kortuem shot with four minutes left in the first half, Sultan’s goalie found herself down on the ground and in a bit of a jam.

Renninger, rampaging in front of the net, went up and over McKay, doing a gymnast-worthy flip, only to see her foe vacuum up her potential game-busting goal while prone on the ground.

Popping back up, Coupeville’s effervescent captain stopped long enough to pat Sultan’s goaltender on the back, one classy competitor acknowledging another, then rambled off to create havoc elsewhere.

With the game knotted at 0-0 at the break, the teams, playing less than 24 hours after the regular-season finales, upped the intensity in the second half.

Renninger launched shot after shot, with a free kick from the left side of the field her best opportunity, but McKay wouldn’t break.

And neither would Bailey, one eye on the clock, one eye searching for any photographers who might be snapping her photo.

Casual fans were on the edge of their seats.

Die-hard soccer nuts were under their seats, pleading for a miracle.

And the game seemed destined to head to sudden-death overtime. Possibly even all the way to a penalty-kick shootout.

Neither goalie would crack.

Neither goalie would bend.

Neither goalie would be beaten.

Until it happened, with the clock frozen at 2:00, no one but the lead ref knowing how much time remained in regulation.

Launching a fierce assault on the net, Coupeville sent everyone in uniform (seemingly), while Sultan’s defenders made the kind of final stand made famous by the Spartans once upon a time.

As the scrum erupted, bodies were everywhere, arms swinging, legs pumping, the ball pinging from foot to knee, and then, in the madness, a heroine arose.

Dion, whose brilliant scientific mind will carry her far, has devoted the past four years of her life to the CHS soccer program, a role player willing to sacrifice for others, always the first to celebrate the accomplishments of her teammates.

She’s scored in three of her four seasons, missing out just as a sophomore, but, at a little before 6 PM on a balmy Whidbey Thursday night late in October, 2019, she created the moment which will cement her legacy with Wolf fans.

The ball disappeared into a sea of humanity, McKay lunged, and Anna “The Turk Killer” Dion, fighting just to stay on her feet in the crush, slid her foot under the ball and slapped it past the incoming Sultan goalie.

For one moment, one small, shining slice of time, everything went dead quiet.

And then utter bedlam broke, as Dion’s shot was welcomed by the back of the net, and Anna herself went to the ground, mobbed by a pack of teammates intent on crushing her in their glee.

The stadium shook, the pitch quaked, and, off on the far sideline, Coupeville’s coach, the coolest cat in Cow Town, nodded ever so slightly and smiled, but just a bit.

Ever the strategist, Nelson knew there were still a few ticks left on the clock, a small shard of time for the Wolf defense to withstand a final Turk assault.

If he worried, he need not have bothered, as his hyped-up squad retained control of the ball after Dion’s score, refusing to give Sultan a chance.

Instead, the Wolves rattled off two more shots on goal of their own before the final whistle blared.

Neither went in, but it mattered not.

Anna Dion had already conquered the world, and taken her team along for the wild ride.

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Pitch powerhouses nab spotlight

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on October 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Avalon Renninger is first up as we look at CHS soccer seniors. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Anna Dion

Natalie Hollrigel

Mallory Kortuem

Tia Wurzrainer

Renninger returns to grab a photo op with her grandparents.

Five Wolves working and playing as one.

This year’s pack of Coupeville High School girls soccer seniors, who were celebrated Wednesday night, are a very tight group.

Through tough times and better times, they have been at the forefront of the Wolf pitch program since day one.

While their run isn’t quite done yet, the pics above capture them during their moment in the spotlight at Senior Night.

To see more from the festivities and a bit of on-field action, pop over to:

https://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/Coupeville-Soccer/GS-2019-10-23-vs-Granite-Falls/

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Not done just yet

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , , on October 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Anna Dion and CHS soccer hosts Sultan Thursday, with a playoff berth on the line. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Mallory Kortuem, being smooched on by mom Heather, scored her second goal of the season Wednesday night as Coupeville celebrated Senior Night.

They’re coming back for at least one encore, and maybe two.

Despite falling 6-1 to visiting Granite Falls Wednesday in a rough-and-tumble, yellow card-filled bout on Senior Night, the Coupeville High School girls soccer team hasn’t played its final game on its home turf.

The loss, combined with Sultan being blanked 3-0 by Cedar Park Christian, leaves Coupeville tied with the Turks for the final playoff berth from the North Sound Conference.

The Wolves (1-9 in league play, 1-12-2 overall) host Sultan (1-9, 1-13-2) Thursday at 5 PM in a tie-breaker game.

Free to the public, the rumble will run half the length of a normal game, with two 20-minute halves.

If the teams are tied at the end of regulation, there will be up to two five-minute sudden-death overtime periods, with a penalty-kick shootout at the end if we’re still knotted up.

The loser is done for the season, while the winner advances to host a district play-in playoff game Saturday.

That game would be at 1 PM, would also be free, and would feature Mount Baker as the opponent.

If Coupeville survives playing both Sultan and Baker, it advances to face the #3 team from the North Sound Conference, either CPC (5-5, 8-6) or Granite (5-5, 8-7), in another loser-out game Monday, Oct. 28.

Every playoff game from Monday on would be a road game for the Wolves, with admission charged.

Wednesday marked the end of the regular season for NSC soccer teams, with previously undefeated South Whidbey “Cougin’ it” and losing 2-0 at King’s to blow its shot at winning an uncontested league title.

The Falcons (9-1, 13-1-1) and Knights (9-1, 12-4) tie for the title, with each having won 2-0 on their home turf.

While that game was for the title, Coupeville’s tilt on the pitch was a much-more emotional affair, as the Wolves honored their five seniors.

Avalon Renninger, Mallory Kortuem, Anna Dion, Tia Wurzrainer, and Natalie Hollrigel were showered with praise, applause, and hugs, while Sherry Roberts read their farewell notes to a packed crowd.

Full of good will for all, the Wolves then hit the field, only to run into one of the rougher teams it has played this season.

As the battle raged on, players from both sides went down (though no one seemed to suffer any permanent injuries) and the refs spent a decent amount of time waving yellow cards, even handing one out to ultra-cool CHS coach Kyle Nelson.

Granite Falls broke a scoreless tie a little over 10 minutes into the game, winning a one-on-one battle, as a Tiger came crashing in hot and pegged a ball just out of the reach of Wolf goalie Mollie Bailey.

The Coupeville junior, hitting her stride again after returning from an earlier shoulder injury, did her best to combat frequent shots on goals, deflecting balls from all angles.

One play, on which Bailey slid to her right and punched the ball away as it came zinging towards her head, was especially sweet, and earned a roar from the pro-Wolf crowd.

The visitors had the magic touch, however, and knocked in two more goals late in the first half to take a 3-0 lead into the locker room.

With the margin mushrooming out to 5-0, Coupeville got a trio of second-half highlights from Kortuem, which put a more-positive spin on things.

The speedy Wolf star blasted in her second goal of the season, and sixth of her career, to get Coupeville on the board, then she got defensive.

Kortuem first blew up a rival in the open field, dumping a hapless Tiger on her rear, before pulling off a sensational save.

With a Granite player WAY, WAY ahead of her and making a mad dash at the goal, the school record holder in the 400 hit the jets, came flying in like a runaway missile, slid, and deftly knocked the ball free at the last second.

The crowd’s first reaction was stunned silence, as their brains tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

Then the stadium rocked, waves of adulation rolling down for Kortuem, one of the best to ever wear the Wolf uniform.

While Coupeville’s coach prefers to focus on team accomplishments instead of singling out players, he was willing to shower some praise on his pack of seniors after the game.

“They’ve been awesome, stepped up and become true leaders of this team,” Nelson said. “Each has been successful in their own way and brought their own talents, and it’s made for a very cohesive team, and one which has had a lot of fun.”

Fun which isn’t over just yet.

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Many options, one fate

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on October 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Sophia Martin and Coupeville High School girls soccer have at least one more home game, and possibly as many as three. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

By Wednesday, we’ll know what’s what.

The North Sound Conference girls soccer season wraps up that night, and all six teams still have unanswered questions.

Monday night, Coupeville fell 4-0 to South Whidbey, King’s bopped Sultan 6-1, and Granite Falls blanked Cedar Park Christian 3-0.

That leaves South Whidbey (9-0 in league, 13-0-1 overall) and King’s (8-1, 11-4) headed for a fierce finale Wednesday in Shoreline.

The Falcons could win the league title outright, or the Knights, who are the defending champs, could rally to earn a share of the 2019 crown.

The other games, which ultimately mean more to Coupeville fans, have Sultan (1-8, 1-12-2) visiting Cedar Park (4-5, 7-6) and Granite Falls (4-5, 7-7) coming to Whidbey to clash with the Wolves (1-8, 1-11-2).

It’s Senior Night for CHS, with a 6 PM varsity-only kickoff.

The game could be the final home appearance for Wolf 12th graders Avalon Renninger, Mallory Kortuem, Anna Dion, Tia Wurzrainer, and Natalie Hollrigel.

But, it doesn’t have to be.

If Coupeville and Sultan remain deadlocked through Wednesday’s games, they would be tied for the fifth, and final, playoff berth from the North Sound Conference.

The Turks would then hop on a bus Thursday, and travel to Coupeville to play a tie-breaker game.

Kickoff would be 6 PM, the game would consist of two 20-minute halves (half the normal time), and the winner would live on, while the loser would start planning the postseason banquet.

Now, if Coupeville has that #5 playoff seed, either by beating Granite Wednesday while Sultan loses to CPC, or by thumping the Turks in a tie-breaker, there would be yet another home game.

That would be Saturday, with a 1 PM kickoff.

The opponent would be the #4 seed from the Northwest Conference (likely Mount Baker), and it would also be a loser-out game, with the winner advancing on to districts.

Both the Thursday and Saturday games, if they happen, will operate under regular-season pricing, which means they’d be free.

If the Wolves are still standing after Saturday, the rest of their postseason run (with playoff pricing) would be 100% on the road, beginning with a trip Monday, Oct. 28 to the home of NSC #3.

Which could be Cedar Park or Granite.

Got that straight? Cause there will be a test.

Monday’s game was played in a rainstorm which made the South Whidbey pitch extremely slick.

Facing off with the beast of the league, the Wolves held up well, at least for a time.

“We held them scoreless until about five minutes to play in the first half,” said CHS coach Kyle Nelson. “Unfortunately they put in three in quick succession.

“The second half we did a better job of holding them out, conceding only one.”

Coupeville came close to getting on the scoreboard, with Anna Dion smacking a shot off of the goal post during one attack on the Falcon goal.

That continued a season-long trend for the Wolves, who have been inches away from doubling their 10-goal output.

“I think we just may lead the league in shots that have hit the goal post or crossbar,” Nelson said with a small smile.

 

JV caps season:

Coupeville’s second squad also fell 4-0 in the rain Monday, with numerous players shining through the gloom.

“Lily (Leedy) played her heart out; Katelin (McCormick) can kick a ball like no other … AMAZING,” said Wolf mom Stephanie Grimm.

“Sam (Streitler) would not let a ball in, killing it at keeper,” she added. “Aurora (Cernick) protected the keeper like no other. Brekyn (Clark) worked amazing with Lily.”

This was the first time in memory CHS has had enough players to field a JV team, which gave Nelson a chance to get much more playing time for the girls who are the future of the program.

The second team was competitive in every game, and beat Port Townsend for the highlight of the season.

“Nice to have a JV go out and play quite a few games this year,” Nelson said. “We lost last night, but the progress over the course of the season was clearly evident.”

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