The Sequim girls soccer team showed on a wet night at Wally Sigmar Field last week that it has a lot of depth behind scoring star Taryn Johnson.
Port Angeles held Johnson in check, holding her to zero goals and one assist, but Wolves’ midfielder Jenny Gomez had a pair of spectacular goals and Kiley Winter added a late goal in stoppage time for a 3-0 win on Oct. 10 over a young Roughriders squad that played tough all match.
Gomez scored her first goal in the sixth minute with a powerful shot from 25 yards out at a sharp angle, going high to put the ball into the far end of the net.
She had an even better goal in the 37th minute, again from well out, perfectly hooking the ball from the left center of the field off the right post and in.
That was all the offense that the Wolves needed as their defense clamped down and only allowed a couple of serious scoring chances for the Riders.
“We encourage her to take those shots,” Sequim coach Ken Garling said. “I’m very proud of this team. We’re fighting well and working well as a unit and they’re representing the school well out there.”
Said Gomez, holding her hand at eye-level, “Our level of play is up here. We have the drive the win every game.”
Gomez said ever since she played youth soccer for her dad, Javier Gomez, she was told to take advantage of her powerful shot.
“When I was little I would shoot from far away,” Gomez said.
It was a bit of a chippy game with a lot of collisions and a total of 10 yellow cards against both teams, all in the second half. There were no red cards.
Port Angeles coach Dan Horton thought the Riders got off to a slow start.
“We knew were would have to have a good start. We didn’t play our best soccer in the first half,” he said. “We played a better game in the second half. They just outplayed us.”
The Riders did have a couple of good chances. The best came in the first half on a cross from Izzy Felton right on Paige Mason’s foot. Mason’s shot went just a little too high and clanked off the crossbar.
“If that had gone in, it would have been a good momentum changer,” Horton said.
Felton had another good scoring chance a few minutes later on a perfect free kick from Maeve Croteau that got through the Sequim defense and just missed a wide open Felton.
Port Angeles goalkeeper Kennedy Rognlien made a spectacular diving fingertip save on a shot what looked like a sure Sequim goal in the 54th minute.
The game looked like it was headed for a 2-0 final when the Wolves picked up a goal in stoppage time on an unusual shot from Kiley Winter. She shot the ball from a sharp angle only a yard or two from the end line. But she hit it high and it went off Rognlien’s outstretched hands for a goal.
Johnson, who came in to the game with 20 goals, was kept off the scoreboard but she had an assist, as did Raimey Brewer on Gomez’s second goal. Sequim keeper Kalli Grove earned the shutout.
The one down side for the Wolves is that defensive player Ivy Barrett badly rolled an ankle in the first half and had to be carried off the field. She was not able to return and was unable to put weight on the ankle after the game.
SHS survives upset bid
Sequim (9-1 in Olympic League and overall) broke through late when Gomez headed in a corner kick sent in by Brewer with less than 30 seconds left in the second overtime to lift the Wolves past the Trojans on Oct. 12.
It was the Wolves’ sixth consecutive win.
Olympic was so concerned with Sequim’s scoring attack, the Trojans chose to sit all the way back defensively.
“It was an interesting match, what they did well we hadn’t seen before,” Garling said. “They played what they consider a low block, with a single striker up top and a sweeper 5-10 yards behind the defensive back four. They were going to try anything to stop us from scoring. It certainly frustrated us to figure out how to crack that.
Garling said the Wolves attacked the formation by using the width of the field to spread Olympic out and then send balls in toward the middle.
“But Olympic was content to clear any ball out, send the ball forward and get it out of the way,” Garling said.
“We had chances to score, we ended up with 32 shots on goal, but we were a little off all game with the Trojans willing to bunker it out.”
Earlier this season, Sequim beat the Trojans 7-1 in Silverdale.
Brewer’s corner kicks have set up a number of Sequim goals this season.
“We’ve been doing really well on those all season and Jenny Gomez was right there to head it in at the finish,” Garling said.
The Wolves haven’t given up a goal since a Set. 28 match at Bremerton.
Looking ahead
Sequim was scheduled to play at No. 8-ranked North Kitsap on Oct. 17; results were not available at press time.
The Wolves are at 3A Bainbridge on Oct. 19 and host Bremerton on Oct. 24 before closing out the regular season on Oct. 26 at Kingston.
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group / Port Angeles’ Pyper Alton, left, is defended by Sequim’s Olive Bridge, center and Kaia Lestage, right, on Oct. 10 at Peninsula College.
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group / Sequim’s Ivy Barrett, front, dribbles past Port Angeles’ Kedryn DeScala during an Oct. 10 at Peninsula College.
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group / Sequim’s Olive Bridge, left, gets the ball away from Port Angele’ Paige Mason during an Olympic League at Peninsula College in Port Angeles on Oct. 10.
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim goalkeeper Kalli Grove clutches the ball after withstanding a shot by Port Angeles’ Pyper Alton, lower left, on Oct. 10 in Port Angeles.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Olive Bridge looks for an open teammate in the first half of a 1-0 win over Olympic on Oct. 12.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Amara Gonzalez, left, and Olive Bridge keep an eye on Olympic’s Kaydentze Lloyd in the first half of a 1-0 win over the visiting Trojans on Oct. 12.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Olive Bridge, left and Olympic’s Missie Denis vie for the ball in the first half of an Oct. 12 league game in Sequim.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Eve Breithaupt, left, looks to get past Olympic’s Kaylee Cushman in the first half of a an Oct. 12 league match-up in Sequim.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Eve Breithaupt, right, looks to pressure Olympic’s Emiko Carrier-Berndt deep in Trojan territory in the first half of a an Oct. 12 league match-up in Sequim.
