Zane Bundy knocked home a rebound late in the first half Thursday for Coupeville’s lone score in a 2-1 playoff loss. (John Fisken photo)
In a perfect world, the players on the field decide the game.
But, no one ever said soccer was perfect.
Stabbed in the heart by two second-half penalty kicks, scores on which goalie Connor McCormick had to battle the sun in his eyes, the Coupeville High School boys’ soccer squad fell 2-1 Thursday in their district playoff opener (and closer).
The loss, which came on Oak Harbor High School’s turf field, came at the hands of the Nisqually League’s #4 seed, Bellevue Christian, and ended the Wolves season at 5-9-1.
The Vikings (6-7-1) advance to play Vashon Island (8-2-4) in another loser-out game Saturday.
Thursday’s battle was a rematch of a non-conference game from March, when Coupeville fell 7-4 in a wild, high-scoring affair on its home field.
In that game, the Wolves were without McCormick, who was serving a one-game suspension after being given a red card for an inadvertent hand ball a day before.
This time Coupeville had their senior net-minder in place, and the lanky one played superbly, batting balls away and controlling the flow of the game.
While McCormick and his defense were untouchable in the first half, the Viking goalie couldn’t say the same.
During a wild scramble in front of the Bellevue net in the game’s 33rd minute, Coupeville smacked a shot from close range that was partially deflected.
Putting his head in the right place at the right time, senior Zane Bundy, a four-year starter, banged home the rebound into the left corner of the net to stake the Wolves to a 1-0 lead.
It was his sixth goal of the season.
The lead held up until two minutes into the second half, when Bellevue was awarded a penalty kick after what seemed like a fairly innocuous “collision” between two players scrambling for the ball.
Taking advantage of the sweet opportunity, the Vikings knotted things up, with the shooter faking right, then flicking the ball left and just past McCormick’s fingertips.
With the game even, the two teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the way, with Bellevue noticeably pushing hard on offense.
It paid off when the Vikings were awarded a second penalty kick with under seven minutes left in regulation.
Why they got it is something you’d have to ask someone with a deeper understanding of soccer, cause, to the layman, nothing untoward happened on the play.
Bellevue launched the ball into the net on the PK, however, suddenly putting a huge amount of pressure on the Wolves, who had to play from behind for the first time in the game.
Coupeville got the ball into Bellevue’s half of the field several times in the final moments, and had one or two good looks near the end, but nothing clean, and nothing that would go in.
The loss marked the fourth straight year Coupeville went one-and-done in the playoffs, though the one-goal margin was their closest postseason defeat since 2013.
The last Wolf boys’ soccer playoff win came back on May 2, 2012, when CHS knocked off Meridian 1-0.
Thursday’s game marked the end of the run for seniors Bundy, McCormick, Abraham Leyva, Tanner Kircher, Taylor Chiles, Loren Nelson, Jose Marcos, Andrea Avila, Garrett Compton, Cody Menges and manager Sebastian Wurzrainer.
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