Natalie Hollrigel and the CHS defense stepped up impressively in the second half Saturday, keying a Wolf comeback against a highly-touted rival. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The Vegas odds-makers are not happy.
But Kyle Nelson is.
Blowing up pregame predictions, the Coupeville High School girls soccer team stormed back from two goals down Saturday, against a team which hadn’t been scored on in four straight games, and forced a 2-2 draw.
The tie, coming against a Mount Vernon Christian team which arrived on Whidbey boasting a 5-1 record, and having outscored foes 27-2 across the last five games, felt like a win as the Wolves exited the pitch.
Seeing his team dominate play, especially in the second half, reinforced Nelson’s belief his squad shouldn’t solely be judged on its 0-5-2 record.
With one or two exceptions, Coupeville has been highly-competitive in all of its games, while playing without its top scorer and starting goaltender for much of the season.
With Genna Wright likely gone for the season (she injured her knee in the season opener) and Mollie Bailey returning to the net Saturday — but just for a half — it’s required everyone on the roster to step up.
And the growth Nelson was hoping to see in a relatively young team is arriving.
“We’re finally getting to where we want to be,” he said.
“Our play in the middle third of the field has been solid, and now, after getting in some more practices, and working on our play in the final third, we’re seeing definite progress.”
Mount Vernon Christian hadn’t been touched since a season-opening loss to Cedar Park Christian, and the Hurricanes came out looking like a team intent on winning its sixth-straight game.
Two goals midway through the first half, the second off of a penalty kick which caught a gust of wind and shot over Bailey’s shoulder, staked MVC to a 2-0 lead.
Without Wright as the tip of its spear, Coupeville has struggled to score at times this season, amassing just five goals through its first six games.
But this time the Wolves broke through, as sophomore Eryn Wood beat a pair of defenders, then popped a shot into the right side of the net with three minutes to play in the opening half.
Her first high school goal, it gave the Wolves a genuine spark heading into the locker room, and it showed when CHS returned to the pitch.
Coupeville owned every second of the game’s second 40-minute stretch, peppering the Hurricane goalie with shot after shot, while Bailey’s backup, Samantha Streitler, only had to turn away a shot every 20 minutes or so.
But as many shots as the Wolves were firing, Mount Vernon was doing a nice dance of “dodge the tie,” with its goaltender deflecting shots on both sides of the net.
Her luck finally ran out thanks to her teammates love of physical defense.
Or maybe extra-physical, as the Hurricanes twice wiped out Wolf sophomore Sophia Martin as she careened towards the goal, ball on her foot.
The first time, the ref shrugged his shoulders and walked away with nary a whistle, but the second time the bodies hit the floor, a yellow card came out and Coupeville was awarded a penalty kick.
Taking the in-close shot was the ever-stone cold Avalon Renninger, who slightly arched one eyebrow, let the smallest of smiles slip to just the corner of her mouth, then drilled the snot out of the ball.
It curved past the flailing MVC goalie, found the back of the net, tied the game up, and made a little history.
It was Renninger’s team-leading third goal of the season, and the ninth of her four-year career.
That breaks a tie with big sis Sage, and moves the younger sister into sole possession of fifth-place on the CHS girls soccer career scoring list.
Not content for just a two-goal comeback and a tie against a strong non-conference foe, the Wolves kept their collective foot jammed on the gas pedal, driving it through the floorboards.
But, despite two sizzlin’ Renninger shots, packaged around a booming ball off the foot of Audrianna Shaw, it wasn’t to be.
With the game in stoppage time, the most-irritating of all time in a soccer game since only the ref knows how long he’ll let the “last two minutes” go on, MVC made its first sustained run in nearly 38 minutes.
A ball took a bad hop (for Coupeville) and a Hurricane shooter got away just long enough to fire off one final shot in a bid to drive a stake through the heart of Wolf Nation.
Streitler was in place to make the nab, but she never had to, as the ball sailed harmlessly past on the right side, and the final whistle mercifully tweeted.
Since it was a non-conference game (and soccer…), players exchanged handshakes instead of taking things to overtime and/or penalty kicks.
But, from the way they walked off the field, it was hard not to feel like the Wolves were the better team on this day, regardless of record, and the true winners.
It keeps alive a remarkably successful run against Mount Vernon Christian, as Coupeville girls soccer has gone 5-1-2 against the Hurricanes across the last decade.
Something to keep in mind, because if CHS drops back from 1A to 2B next school year, as expected, they would rejoin their old stomping grounds, the Northwest League.
The current first-place team in that league? MVC.
