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Posts Tagged ‘Soccer’

Booters have a blast!!

Posted in Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on June 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

(Pat Kelley photo)

The future of Wolf boys’ soccer. (Pat Kelley photo)

Kalia (left) and Mia Littlejohn. (Dawn Hesselgrave photo)

Kalia (left) and Mia Littlejohn. (Dawn Hesselgrave photo)

Heat or no heat, there was soccer to be played.

Bouncing around the state this weekend, Coupeville booters found tournament play awaiting them at every destination.

Mia and Kalia Littlejohn were in Bellingham, where they and their teammates on the Northwest United GU16 squad played in the Baker Blast.

The team stormed to a pair of 3-2 wins in the early going, bouncing Burnaby District Metro Select and Gorge FC, with Mia Littlejohn scoring a pair of goals in the opener.

Northwest United ultimately claimed second in the GU16 premier division, falling to West Vancouver 2-0 in the final.

It was the closest any team came to toppling the unbeaten juggernauts.

The boys were busy too, as the young Wolves on the North Whidbey Islanders FC-01 squad played in the Rainer Slam.

Missing six players, the Islanders had no bench and were battered by severe heat, falling 5-1, 4-1 and 7-0.

Jake Mitten and Aram Leyva teamed up in game one on a beautiful, all-Wolf goal.

Leyva, fighting through three defenders, came off the turf to find Mitten, who popped home a short shot that the goalie never saw coming.

Fellow Coupeville booter Matthew Kelley set up his team’s goal in game two, knocking a pair of defenders to the ground before sliding the ball onto the waiting foot of a teammate for the tap-in.

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Wolf aces explode at Firecracker!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on June 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Whidbey warriors (l to r) celebrate their tourney title. (Dawn Hesselgrave photos)

Whidbey warriors (l to r) Malia Hansen, Mia Littlejohn, Kalia Littlejohn and Jenna Cooley celebrate their tourney title. (Dawn Hesselgrave photos)

The best girls under 16 team in all the land.

The best girls under 16 team in all the land.

The will to win is strong in these two.

Powered by its one-two combo of Wolf sharpshooters in sisters Mia and Kalia Littlejohn, the NWU GU16 select soccer squad romped to its third straight win Sunday afternoon, claiming a title at the 21st annual Skagit Firecracker tourney in Burlington.

NWU bounced Snohomish United GU16 2-0 in its final game to cap a 3-0 run through the tournament.

The squad, which boasts four players total from Whidbey, had opened play with a 4-0 drilling of Gala FC Friday.

It then pulled out a heart-stopping 2-1 win over Snohomish Saturday when Kalia Littlejohn slipped a penalty kick past the goalie with less than 30 seconds to play.

Snohomish rebounded to beat Gala FC 3-0 late Saturday to give itself a shot at the title.

Then reality hit like a Littlejohn bomb smacking into the back of the net.

The CHS duo were joined by longtime traveling companion Malia Hansen and newcomer Jenna Cooley to rep Whidbey on the tourney title-winning squad, which is otherwise made up of off-Island players.

Mia Littlejohn was one of Coupeville High School’s top scoring threats last year, winning the award for the team’s top new player.

Kalia, who starred for the CMS volleyball and basketball squads, is expected to join her sister on the pitch in the fall, when she’ll be a freshman and Mia will be a grizzled vet as a sophomore.

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Kalia Littlejohn’s foot is deadly!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on June 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kalia (left) and Mia Littlejohn. (Dawn Hesselgrave photo)

Kalia (left) and Mia Littlejohn. (Dawn Hesselgrave photo)

On the video, you can smell the goalie’s fear.

Coupeville High School freshman-to-be Kalia Littlejohn, playing for her select soccer squad, lines up the penalty kick with under 30 seconds to play in a tie game.

She circles the ball like a lioness, then her hand goes up and time starts to move in slow motion.

A slight dip of the head, the goalie visibly flinches, and then a sudden flick of Littlejohn’s left foot and the ball slices left to right and vanishes into the corner of the net.

Cue the celebration for Littlejohn and her NWU U16 teammates, including big sis Mia and fellow Whidbey booter Malia Hansen, as they claim a 2-1 win over Snohomish United GU16 Saturday.

That win, with the first goal coming from Hansen, lifted NWU to 2-0 in the on-going Skagit Firecracker tournament in Burlington.

NWU opened with a 4-0 romp over Gala FC Friday, and the two wins propel the team into the championship game in their division.

That game is 4:30 Sunday on Field 8 at Skagit River Park.

If the Littlejohns win, it’ll be the second straight summer their team has triumphed at the tourney.

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Excellence was born today!!

Posted in Happy birthday, tagged , , , , , , , on June 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Birthday trio (clockwise from top left) Connor McCormick, Allie Hanigan and Sean LeVine.

Birthday trio (clockwise from top left) Connor McCormick, Allie Hanigan and Sean LeVine.

June 11 stands as one of the deeper days for producing excellence in Wolf Nation.

If we wanted to hand out birthday well wishes to everyone and their sister, we could include Jennifer Dohner and Kristi Etzell, moms who sent numerous talented offspring through the halls of Coupeville High School.

But, for the moment, we’ll focus on three who have made a big impact on Wolf sports in the last few years — Allie Hanigan, Connor McCormick and Sean LeVine.

McCormick, who will be a senior at CHS in the fall, has done a bit of everything, and always done it with great passion.

Soccer goalie, deadly doubles player on the tennis court, baseball and football stud in his earlier days and a medal-winning twin threat with Science Club and History Day.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the middle McCormick child as he upholds the family tradition of awesomeness.

LeVine may technically not be a Wolf, having played soccer in his younger days for a different school that shall go unnamed, but his impact on Coupeville sports is undeniable.

His progeny — Micky “Two Fists” LeVine, Jae “Mighty Mite” LeVine and Izzy “The Real Superstar” LeVine, are among the brightest talents in the land, precocious, uber-talented, super smart (and sometimes smart-ass) young women.

Then there is LeVine’s soccer coaching career, which has touched countless lives.

Whether working with youth soccer programs, or guiding the Whidbey Islanders select soccer squad, which brought together players from Coupeville, Oak Harbor and the South end and rattled the big city programs to their core, Sean has guided the growth and development of an entire generation of pitch stars.

Plus, he’s done it all while working as a superhero on the side (he’s a paramedic) and showing an ability to grow an impressive beard. The man is multi-talented.

Topping off our trio is Hanigan, who moved to Coupeville from my birthplace, Kelso, and immediately became a two-sport sensation.

Ruling the volleyball and tennis courts for two years, she was a fearsome hitter who played in much the same way she moves through real life, with epic grace and style.

Allie is walking, talking class personified and even though she’s moved on to college life, she’s not easily forgotten.

As individuals or as a group, the terrific trio of McCormick, LeVine and Hanigan make the rest of us look better for being loosely connected to them.

Here’s to happy birthdays for all three, this year and in the future.

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Camera clicks turn to cold, hard cash!!

Posted in awards, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

After appearing in many photos over the years, Julia Myers is now reaping a financial benefit. (John Fisken photos)

   After appearing in many photos over the years, Julia Myers (with ball) is now reaping a financial benefit. (John Fisken photos)

Aaron Trumbull works hard for his money.

Aaron Trumbull works hard for his money.

John Fisken came out from behind the camera Tuesday night.

After spending most of the school year clicking away, the Oak Harbor-based lensman swung by Coupeville High School to award his second annual scholarships.

Taking home the honors (and some cash) were Wolf seniors Julia Myers and Aaron Trumbull.

The duo follow in the footsteps of Breeanna Messner and Brandon Kelley, who won the inaugural awards in 2014.

The scholarships, which honor student/athletes who play at least two sports for all four years, are financed by families and fans purchasing photos Fisken shoots, then puts up for sale on various sites.

All those times when I dropped a plug for his work, this is where it pays off.

To be eligible, CHS seniors had to also have a GPA of 3.0 or better, not be getting any financial aid for playing sports from a college program and write an essay.

They then topped things off with a one-on-one interview with Fisken, who alone made the final call.

Myers, who played soccer, basketball and tennis, plans to attend Western Washington and study kinesiology, with a goal of becoming a physical therapist.

She developed an interest in the field after having to undergo physical therapy while rehabbing a soccer injury. Myers hopes to one day obtain a position with a professional sports team.

A fan of her leadership class (Pre-Calculus not so much…), she singled out CHS basketball coaches David and Amy King and soccer/basketball teammate Makana Stone as big inspirations.

Looking back over her busy sports career, Myers remembered a rec soccer game where she stopped every shot that came to her in an OT shootout as her personal favorite highlight.

Trumbull, who played basketball and baseball all four years, was a key player on the Central Whidbey Little League baseball team that won a state title.

Years later, that remains a treasured memory for him.

He plans to attend Olympic College, where he’ll play baseball, before eventually transferring to Central Washington University.

He hopes to earn an engineering degree and go into the military, possibly as a pilot.

Coupeville baseball guru Willie Smith was Trumbull’s favorite coach, while Aaron Curtin, a close friend who also played basketball and baseball, was his pick for most inspirational teammate.

In school he greatly enjoyed Barbara Ballard’s UW English class (a class all of the nominees mentioned), but could have done without taking Spanish.

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