On Thursday, Oct. 13, the Vashon Island High School girls’ soccer team took the field against Seattle Christian at home. Clad in their pink uniforms, they looked ready to beat Seattle Christian and support breast cancer awareness.
When the whistle blew, Vashon’s Pirates started out strong, immediately dominating possession. Seattle Christian was barely able to hold the ball before the pressure of the Pirates forced them to make mistakes. The Pirates looked strong and had many close encounters with the goal. Despite their best efforts, they walked off at halftime still tied at 0-0. The only thing that they didn’t have to show for their efforts was a goal.
The second half started much like the first. The Pirates were dominating and taking many shots, but they couldn’t manage to put one in the back of the net. Finally, Vashon senior Grace Riggs stepped up and did exactly what her team needed her to do. She took a free kick from 25 to 30 yards out from the goal and her perfectly lofted ball sailed into the air and dipped just under the bar. The fans exploded. The bench was on their feet and cheering. Riggs had been taking all of the free kicks and most of the corner kicks for the team and she was always spot on.
She has assisted many goals, but this was her first goal of the season and it was most definitely a well-deserved goal.
With a renewed hope, the Pirates pressed forward, intent on winning. The game ended 1-0. Despite the downpour and muddy field conditions, the Pirates played one of the best games of the season.
On Saturday, Oct. 15, the Pirates took on The Northwest School at home. It was another game played in a downpour and this time the field conditions were even worse. The rain made the field soft, muddy and hard to play on. Despite this being a varsity game, many of the starting players were from Vashon’s junior varsity squad. The Northwest School only had 10 players and Vashon head coach Alan Zoltie wanted to save the varsity players for the next league game.
The Pirates started fairly slowly. Northwest went up 2-0 before the Pirates found their rhythm and managed to tie it up 3-3 before halftime. In the second half, Zoltie decided to start the varsity team and go up a few points before sending the JV girls back in. The Pirates quickly went ahead 5-3 and the game ended with a score of 6-3.
The scoring on the Pirates’ side was monopolized by sophomore striker Dalia Aladin and senior Mira Peterson. The two were playing very well together and their back-and-forth passing led to a lot of opportunities.
Aladin scored four goals in the game and Peterson scored two. One of Aladin’s goals was a header off of a corner kick from Riggs, another assist for Aladin came from Shira Stahl. The other two for Aladin were assists from Peterson and were the result of them working so well together and Aladin’s habit of making space for herself where there is none.
Peterson’s first goal was her first of the season. She has worked very hard the entire season and has created a lot of chances for others. Her other goal was from a corner kick that was trapped down by Paris Crispin — who had just come back from injury — and placed perfectly into the back of the net.
Although nobody wanted to play on Saturday because of the miserable weather, the Pirates happily took the win and rushed off the get out of the rain.
The girls have two more regular season games left. The team will play Tacoma’s Charles Wright Academy at home at 7 p.m. Thursday and then take on Bellevue Christian at Marymoor Park at 4:30 p.m. Monday.
The team has a 1-3-2 league record, putting them behind three of the league’s four other schools. Playoffs for a spot in the postseason begin Thursday, Oct. 27, at Silverdale Stadium.
— Paris Crispin is a member of the Vashon
High School girls’ soccer team.
