Wolf defenders Keegan Kortuem (18) and Oscar Liquidano (4), seen here during the jamboree, played strongly Thursday in a losing effort. (Wendy McCormick photo)
Well, at least it didn’t rain all night.
The fact the liquid coldness only splattered down here and there Thursday was about the lone bright spot on a rough night for the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad.
Facing a tough South Whidbey squad that returned virtually everyone from a team that made the state quarterfinals a year ago, the Wolves didn’t get their first shot on goal until three minutes into the second half.
Toss in the loss of starting goaltender Joel Walstad (he sat out the second half after limping off at halftime) and the resulting 9-0 defeat wasn’t pretty.
But, with Coupeville having moved to the Olympic League, it was a non-conference loss, and, while it dropped the Wolves to 0-2, there is still a lot of soccer left to play.
The health of Walstad is a concern, and the team’s inability to break into the scoring column in the first two games another.
The Wolves spent much of the first half backpedaling as the Falcons aggressively pushed the pace of the game.
South Whidbey got in the scoring column a slim 1:33 into the game, then tacked on four more scores before the break.
One came off a highly questionable penalty kick awarded to a player whose goal was followed by a loud, popular chorus of “You’re still a flopper, dude!!” from the Coupeville JV players in the stands.
With Walstad on the bench in the second half, and backup goalie Connor McCormick unavailable after playing the entire JV game, Coupeville rustled up goaltender clothes for junior defender Tanner Kircher and threw him out there to fend as best as possible.
He actually did fairly well, making several impressive saves while fending off a barrage of Falcon shots.
Up front, the Wolves finally broke through for several shots on goal, getting pushes from Zane Bundy, Garrett Compton and others, but were turned away by South Whidbey goalie Charlie Stelling.
JV shut out:
It was largely the same story in the night’s opening contest, as South Whidbey breezed to a 6-0 win.
The Falcons only took 1:04 in this one to score their first goal, but it was the visiting goaltender who exited early after being blown up by rampaging Wolf Laurence Boado on a play in front of the net.
McCormick did his best to limit the high-powered Falcon offense, but the night’s best save was a team effort.
Down on the ground after stopping a shot, McCormick managed to get his hand on a second shot, but the ball took a South Whidbey skip, with an incoming Falcon having a seemingly wide-open third try at the net.
He failed, however, when Wolf midfielder Taylor Chiles suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the mouth of the goal, sacrificing his body and blocking the shot out of bounds with his hip.
Coupeville Sports 