Bree Daigneault, a captain and four-year player, is one of six seniors CHS soccer will lose. (John Fisken photo)
The search for a postseason goal continues.
Despite several strong chances, including a booming shot from Lindsey Roberts that curled up and over the bar at the last second, the Coupeville High School girls’ soccer squad suffered a shutout loss in the district playoffs for the third straight season.
The Wolves fell 3-0 to Charles Wright Academy Saturday in a game played on the damp turf at Oak Harbor’s Wildcat Memorial Stadium.
The loss ended the most successful season in CHS girls’ soccer history, while CWA advances to the double-elimination round of districts, where it will face Cascade Christian Tuesday night.
With a final record of 8-7-1, it’s the first time a Wolf girls’ soccer squad has finished a season with a winning record since the program was started in 2004.
Coupeville finished second in the 1A Olympic League for the third straight season, set a program record for wins and saw junior Mia Littlejohn shatter the school record for goals in a season.
She finished with 27, bettering the 20 Abraham Leyva scored during his senior season on the pitch way back in … the spring of 2016.
The previous record for a Wolf girl was 10, set by Kalia Littlejohn in 2015.
Lil’ sis added eight more as a sophomore, while Roberts, also a tenth grader, smacked home six and freshman Tia Wurzrainer notched three.
Of Coupeville’s 48 goals this season, only two were scored by seniors, with May Rose and Bree Daigneault being joined by freshmen Avalon Renninger and Anna Dion in rounding out the scorers.
Saturday, though, the well ran dry, though not for lack of chances.
Coupeville pushed the pace early, but saw Charles Wright seemingly get away with a major off-sides on the game’s opening goal.
The Wolves had set a trap to lure the Tarriers into committing just such an act, yet, even with a CWA player a clear five feet in front of the ball on what turned into a scoring run, the refs declined to say anything on the matter.
“It’s tough when girls play so well and earn their spot here and honestly outplayed the other team and it doesn’t show up on the scoreboard,” said Coupeville coach Troy Cowan.
“In the first half we certainly outplayed them; the second half was a little more even, but we did well with our set pieces,” he added. “Regardless of what was on the scoreboard, we can be proud of our season. They had a great season.”
Trailing just 1-0 coming out of the halftime break, the Wolves got nipped on two big plays in the second half.
On the first, CWA punched in a header off of a corner kick, with Coupeville goalie Lauren Grove unable to see the ball coming as a Tarrier expertly blocked her field of vision.
The final goal of the afternoon came when a Charles Wright player got behind the defense, picked up a pass and flicked it into the open side of the net.
The Wolves made several charges at the end, with Roberts unleashing a laser from about the 40-yard line, but it wasn’t to be.
While he wanted a win, Cowan can step back and see the progress the program has made in his four years at the helm.
“If you look at where we started at four years ago, we’ve really changed the culture of Coupeville soccer,” he said. “We’ve gone from being a cellar dweller to battling (Olympic League champ) Klahowya and chipping away at them.”
While he’ll lose six seniors — Grove, Rose, Daigneault, Megan DePorter, Mattea Miller and Fanny Duprelle — Cowan will retain virtually all of his offensive firepower and the heart of his defense.
“Our core is coming back and we’ll continue to build around them,” he said. “We’ve been lucky to be adding quality people, high character young women who really bring a lot to the program.”
