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Posts Tagged ‘Lopez Island’

Blustery day, tough loss

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on October 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Aiden Wheat and Co. have one regular season game left to play. (Julie Wheat photo)

It was a blustery, unpleasant day.

Playing on the wind-ravaged pitch on Lopez Island Tuesday, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer team took a hit to its playoff hopes.

Falling 4-0 to the host Lobos, the Wolves slide to 2-5 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-9 overall, with a home game Thursday against La Conner the only remaining regular-season game on the schedule.

Coupeville sits a game out of the fifth, and final district playoff slot, trailing Providence Classical Christian, which is 3-4.

Defending state champs Orcas Island (7-0), Mount Vernon Christian (7-1), Friday Harbor (6-2), and Lopez (5-3) hold the top four postseason berths.

La Conner, Grace Academy, and Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood bring up the rear of the nine-school league, each carrying a 1-6 record into their finales.

While the Wolves close out with a clash against the Braves, PCC faces Grace Academy Thursday afternoon.

The showdown with Lopez made for “an especially disappointing game,” said CHS coach Jim Kunz.

“Sizing up their style and ability we definitely have a team that should have beat them.”

The Wolves were stretched thin, however, only able to field the minimum 11 players due to illness and injury.

Add in a non-stop wind (but no rain!), and it was hard to move the ball, especially in the second half, when Coupeville had to play into the brunt of the storm.

Thursday’s home finale with La Conner is slated to kick off at 6:00 PM at Mickey Clark Field, and admission is free.

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Feisty Wolf booters scare pitch power

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , on October 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Bettie Woolworth and associates would like a word. (CHS Yearbook staff photo)

“We’re coming! They know it now.”

The words were said by Coupeville High School girls’ soccer assistant coach Jerry Helm, but they’re shared by all the players and coaches connected to the program.

Back in action after a two-year shutdown due to a lack of players, a squad sparked by a batch of talented, fearless 8th graders and freshmen is starting to shake things up in the pitch world.

Case in point, Thursday’s trip to Lopez Island, where the upstart Wolves put the fear of God into their hosts, who barely escaped with a 3-2 win.

Consider that the Lobos are 9-1 on the season, with their only loss to powerhouse Mount Vernon Christian, and that they won the first meeting with Coupeville 7-1.

A lot has changed in a mere month.

This time around, the Wolves spent the majority of the game on the offensive, with 8th grader Lyla Grose connecting twice, notching her fourth and fifth goals of the campaign.

That puts her hot on the heels of team scoring leader Tamsin Ward, who has scored eight times, and gives Jasmine Ader’s squad a wicked one-two combo at the top of the roster.

And with Ward just a fab frosh herself, the duo has the potential for a long run of success alongside the other young guns filling the Wolf roster.

Getting fired up for a bright future. (Jackie Saia photo)

Thursday, CHS came within a missed shot here, a strong save there, of a major upset.

“We had 25 shots on goal,” Helm said. “Played hands down the majority on their side of the field all game. Just couldn’t connect.”

Coupeville, which sits at 2-7 in its season of revival, but often plays more like a 7-2 team, returns home Saturday for Senior Night, with the squad honoring its lone 12th grader, team captain Frankie Tenore.

Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM at Mickey Clark Field and admission is free.

Heading home after a stellar performance. (Jerry Helm photo)

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Ward has pop, Wolves have passion

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on September 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Tamsin Ward (18) celebrates a goal. (Julie Wheat photos)

The building blocks are in place.

Having revived the girls’ soccer program at Coupeville High School after a two-year absence, the young Wolves are busy learning under fire.

Lesson #2 came Wednesday afternoon on the prairie, as visiting Lopez Island sent Coupeville tumbling to a 7-1 loss.

While the defeat dropped the pitch warriors to 0-2 on the very young season, the final score was a bit deceptive.

“Our efforts did not depict our play,” said CHS coach Jasmine Ader. “Overall, I’m happy with our first two performances.

“We are moving the ball well and we are able to be dynamic in the final third.”

Paige Hill kicks it into overdrive.

Coupeville sent a fair amount of balls at the Lobos goal, raining down 28 shots on frame, but were denied by a stellar defensive effort from Lopez.

Freshman Tamsin Ward did break through, rattling home her fourth goal of the campaign off of an assist from senior captain Frankie Tenore.

With a road trip to La Conner on the books for Friday, Ader and her young squad — more than half the roster is comprised of 8th graders — will continue to strive for excellence.

“Once the Wolves have a healthy 15-person roster, success is endless,” Ader said. “The efforts that this team is putting in will have great rewards.

“Each day the Wolves are getting better individually and meshing together as a team.”

Andrea Gonzalez fights for position.

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Coupeville league mate wins state soccer title

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on November 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

CHS soccer coach Robert Wood (blue hat) preps his team before a game this season. (Jackie Saia photo)

The Northwest 2B/1B League is back in charge.

Coupeville’s conference re-staked its claim to having the top collection of boys’ soccer teams across the two classifications Saturday afternoon, with Orcas Island toppling Lopez Island 2-0 in Federal Way to win a state title.

It’s the third time in the last four seasons that a NWL squad has captured the crown, with Friday Harbor winning in 2022 and Orcas in 2021.

Upper Columbia Academy, which is playing Providence Classical Christian in the 3rd/4th place game Saturday night, won the title in 2023, momentarily breaking the run.

With Orcas, Lopez, and PCC bringing home trophies, that gives the NWL 11 of the 16 awards handed out in 1B/2B across the past four seasons.

The last time Coupeville’s conference didn’t produce at least half of the final four teams was 2020 … when the pandemic erased all state tournaments.

All four of the NWL teams to make the playoffs survived through bi-district play to make it to state, with Friday Harbor, which edged out CHS and Mount Vernon Christian for the final postseason slot, also advancing.

Those Wolverines were knocked out in the state quarterfinals by Upper Columbia Academy (1-0), while Orcas, Lopez, and PCC all won their big dance openers.

Lopez took out the defending champs 2-1 in the semifinals, winning in a shootout, while Orcas drilled PCC 4-1 in the other matchup.

That set up a third showdown between the Vikings and Lobos.

The teams split their first two meetings, with both coming out on top to a 1-0 tune.

Coupeville, which went 6-8-1 overall, 4-4 in league action, lost 3-1 to Lopez and 5-0 to Orcas this season.

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Lobos nip Wolves in pitch battle

Posted in soccer, tagged , , , , on October 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Edmund Kunz tracks the flight of the soccer ball. (Photo by Coupeville High School yearbook staff)

It was a tale of two halves, with a strong finish negated by a slow start.

Despite rallying after halftime Thursday, the Coupeville High School co-ed soccer squad fell 3-1 to visiting Lopez Island in a battle for sole possession of second place in the Northwest 2B/1B League.

The loss drops the Wolves to 3-2 in conference action, 5-6-1 overall, while Lopez gets to 4-1, which leaves the Lobos a game off of frontrunner Orcas Island, which sits at 5-0.

CHS is still very much in the playoff battle, with the top four teams from the nine schools playing boys’ soccer in the NWL making the postseason.

Coupeville returns to the pitch with a home game against Providence Classical Christian Tuesday Oct. 29 on Senior Night.

After that comes a road trip to La Conner Nov. 1 and a home clash with Orcas Nov. 2.

When the Wolves get back into action, the goal will be to replicate the more fired-up attack which helped them hold the advantage in the second half against Lopez.

Trailing 3-0 at the break, without having gotten off a shot on goal across the first 40 minutes, CHS mixed things up and it paid off.

“We came out in the first half really slow, almost asleep,” said Coupeville coach Kimberly Kisch. “Then we adjusted and got much more of the action happening up top.

“I’m very happy with how we played in the second half.”

Ayden Wyman turns the action upfield. (Finn Price photo)

While the Wolves had trouble mounting an offensive charge before the break, they put together one especially strong run right after the break.

Just a hair over two minutes into the second half, Cael Wilson put a pass on Preston Epp’s foot, and his fellow senior bashed a shot which almost beat the Lopez goalie.

While the Lobo netminder managed to punch the ball free, it bounced in the direction of Wolf sniper Sage Arends, who nimbly popped the orb into the back of the net for his third score of the season.

The two teams played a fast ‘n furious second half, with Lopez picking up a yellow card for one play, while getting away with another tussle where a Coupeville player got nailed in the face by a wayward elbow and crashed hard to the pitch.

Coupeville’s defense kept Lopez at bay over the final 40 minutes of play, with goaltender Hurlee Bronec making several strong stops on Lobo shots.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, they were playing from behind for most of the game, after Lopez broke through with an opening goal just 90 seconds into the game.

The visitors added two more scores, one in the 22nd minute and another in the 36th, to get comfortably ahead by the break.

While Coupeville was looking for a win, Kisch came away pleased with how the team responded to adversity.

She praised Wolf 8th grader Brian Thompson for “standout work in maintaining good position,” Ayden Wyman for “solid work in the middle,” and Dane Hadsall for a “couple of great blocks.”

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