Girls soccer: Sequim batters Highline for district victory

Olympic League standings (final)

North Kitsap 10-2-0 11-4-1

Olympic 10-2-0 13-3-0

Port Angeles 8-4-0 11-5-0

Sequim 5-7-0 7-8-1

Bremerton 4-8-0 6-9-1

North Mason 4-8-0 5-11-0

Kingston 1-11-0 3-13-0

For the second time in three years, Sequim’s Wolves are headed deep into the postseason.

The Wolves came out roaring with a pair of early goals, saw the lead disappear, then netted another three goals in a 5-2 rout of Highline on Oct. 27, in the opening round of the West Central District tourney.

“The girls fought back really hard,” Sequim coach Derek Vander Velde said.

Hope Glasser, Jessica Deitzman and Daisy Ryan each scored goals for the Wolves, while Hannah Wagner forced a Highline own-goal on a cross in front of the Pirates’ net.

Also scoring a goal was Abby Schroeder, who returned to the Wolves after being out for several weeks after she sustained a concussion in a Port Angeles game.

“She was cleared to play last week. She was only in there for two minutes, after she scored, I pulled her,” Vander Velde said.

Picking up assists were Ryan and Yana Hoesel.

Vander Velde had high praise for Dietzman, Wagner, Eden Johnson and Gabbie Happe.

The Wolves (8-8-1), who have now won seven out of eight after starting league play 0-6, were scheduled to take on White River (14-1-4) at 5 p.m. on Oct. 30 — results were not available at press time.

The winner moves on to state and plays for the district title on Nov. 3, while the losing squad looks for at least one more win on Nov. 1 to advance to the state tourney.

In other district action, the Olympic League’s other entries — besides North Kitsap, who had a bye — picked up victories on Oct. 27. Port Angeles clobbered Tyee 9-1 while Olympic routed Eatonville, 7-0.

Wolves close by beating Bucs

Sequim’s squad got a win in the regular season finale, topping Kingston 3-2.

“We played decent,” Vander Velde said. “We kind of knew going into it wasn’t going to change standings or seeding into districts. So we worked on several different aspects of the game and brought up some swing players to rest some others.”

Sequim scored on goals by Dietzman, Ryan and Wagner.

“On all three goals we worked the ball up the field and made good plays on the ball,” Vander Velde said.

Through the first half of league play, Sequim was in an 0-6 slump — though some of their losses were quite close.

“The first half of the season we had some major injuries, lost some girls for the rest of the season and we were trying to get the girls to fit into new positions,” Vander Velde said.

“The first half we were adjusting the entire system to make sure we could compete. And we lost two games in PKs and two other games by one goal.”