Manaia Siania-Unutoa broke through the pack, snagged the ball out of the air and as she landed, her team held its collective breath. The Peninsula keeper had made her sixth save of the game but landed outside the penalty box.

Moments later, it was cheers and hugs and sighs of relief as the Pirates escaped a battle of two of the NWAC’s top teams as they knocked off visiting Everett, 2-1.

“We took it as a championship game,” freshman forward Ellie Small said. “We were very positive with each other and the intensity and physicality was very high.”

Hoku Afong scored the second of her two goals at the 53-minute mark and Peninsula withstood a tough Trojan team to avenge a loss earlier this season and put the teams in a tie atop the North Division heading into the week’s play.

But it wasn’t without some drama. Everett, led by sophomore forward Lauren Allison, pressured the PC defense for much of the final 15 minutes. With just moments remaining, the Trojans sent a ball near the corner of the penalty box, where Siania-Unutoa snatched the ball, collided with a Trojan player and fell to the turf. The referee called a foul on Everett, negating a possible penalty kick.

“The refs do a good job of protecting the goalkeepers,” Siania-Unutoa said.

Peninsula opened the scoring in the first half when Lexi Krieger put a shot on goal and Afong picked up the rebound for a score at 26 minutes. Everett answered just a minute later, getting a goal from Ava Mana’o.

It stayed tied until Afong took the ball deep into Trojan territory, traversed the outside of the penalty box and then rocketed a shot past Trojan keeper Emily Sorenson for the game-winner.

She decided,” ‘I’m not going to be stopped on this play,'” Peninsula coach Kanyon Anderson said of Afong.

Peninsula’s defense, which had given up just two goals heading into Saturday’s match (11 games overall), held firm for the final 47-plus minutes.

“I rely on my defense a lot,” Siania-Unutoa said. “We had the mentality to win the game.”

Everett was the only team to beat Peninsula in 2014 — twice, both by 1-0 counts — and won another 1-0 game this season, on Sept. 16.

This time around, the Pirates had the final answer.

“I liked the intensity … and the pace of the game,” Anderson said. “I liked that we were able to put a game plan into effect. We’ve talked about playing that hard all the time. We’re trying to train hard against each other.”

Anderson had praise for Small, a 5-foot 2-inch freshman forward from Reno, Nev., who relentlessly put pressure on the Trojan defense.

“That’s the best game she’s had,” Anderson said of Small. “There are not a lot of players who can cover that kind of ground.”

The Pirates are now ranked No. 4 in the NWAC Alaska Airlines poll following their loss to Everett on Sept. 16. The Trojans — the defending NWAC champions — are ranked No. 1, ahead of No. 2 Spokane and No. 3 Highline.

Peninsula hosts Skagit Valley on Oct. 7 and Whatcom on Oct. 10.

Shutting down Shoreline

Facing the rare prospect of giving up a goal, Peninsula’s responded with a late-game score and escaped Shoreline with a 2-1 victory on Sept. 30.

“I am pleased with the effort although the result on paper doesn’t seem very impressive,” Anderson said. “I told the team that good teams figure out how to win close games.”

Olivia Moore took a rebounded shot for a put-away goal at 83 minutes to help PC get the key division win.

After battling to a scoreless first half, Peninsula’s Cierra Hamilton chipped in a shot that a Shoreline deflected over her own keeper for an own-goal at 51 minutes.

“It was a tough bounce for them but we might have been able to get to the ball if they had not,” Anderson said.

Just four minutes later, however, Shoreline’s Rylee O’Dell scored on a corner kick that bent directly into the goal. It was just the second goal Peninsula had allowed in 11 games (to that point, PC had out-scored opponents 38-1).

“I thought we responded well from giving up a goal,” Anderson said. “We have not had that experience often this year so it is reasonable to think we might have panicked. Fortunately we did not.”

Peninsula looked to reclaim the lead when Tori Hagan was fouled in the box moments later, but Shoreline made a save on the penalty kick.In the 83rd minute, Paige Mahuka beat two defenders and forced the Shoreline keeper to make a save, and Moore was able to slam the ball low through a crowd of defenders into the lower left corner for the game-winner.

PC’s Siania-Unutoa made three saves in the victory.

“Shoreline is an organized, athletic and defensively minded team and it seemed at times they were playing for a draw,” Anderson said. “The field is small which makes it difficult to create much in the attack.”