Soccer team wins one, ties one on the road

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 6, 2016

By GREG MARTIN

For The Beachcomber

On the soccer pitch, last week Vashon played two non-conference games, one in Coupeville on Whidbey Island last Tuesday and one in Blaine, near the Canadian border, on Saturday. Both were long drives but played in great weather.

In the Coupeville game, there was a good, solid battle. Vashon scored first, but Coupeville retaliated midway through the second half. Senior keeper Brett Beardsley had another great game, in particular snuffing a shot on a one-on-one breakaway.

At the other end, Gabe Reoux combined with a number of other players to create several chances, and Anthony Gateman provided continuous pressure up the right side, putting in a number of dangerous crosses and shots. Finally, Reoux had a breakthrough run on a pass up from midfield, and with a deft touch off his knee, beat the back line of the defense. The goalie came hard off his line, and Reoux chipped the ball up in the air. The goalie made a leaping save but had already left the box as he did so. The assistant referee (AR) flag was waving, and though a follow-up shot ensued, which went wide, the referee halted play, conferred with the AR and awarded a foul. Since the keeper was the last man between Reoux and the box, the foul resulted in a mandatory red card, and the keeper was ejected from the game. For the remaining 20 minutes, Vashon had a one-man advantage to no avail.

There were then two five-minute overtimes, still scoreless, so the game went to penalty kicks (PKs). Coupeville changed their keeper at that point to their #11, who had been their most dominant field player throughout the game from his center back position. Players taking PKs were Gateman, Reoux, Bohdin Mozeleski, Ben Gass and Alden Hinden — who had to make his for Vashon to stay in the game — Luis Eicher-Lyons and a final finish by Kieran Enzian for the 2-1 win.

The Blaine game was a different story. With four players out for AP testing and several more out due to injuries, Vashon was able to field an eight-man JV team and a 12-man varsity team. Vashon has played physical games, but Blaine took this to a new level. Although the referee handed out several yellow cards to Blaine early, equally tough or late tackles went by later with no further cards given, though there was one given to senior Bernard Cowen late in the game for protesting the lack of calls. He was fouled hard just minutes later, and again no card was given. While he finished the game, he was hobbled and in pain from an ankle sprain. Sophomore Ray Rivas also suffered an early injury due to a hard tackle.

Senior Tom Dunn came on to replace the injured Rivas. Just minutes later he was defending hard in the box and won the ball facing the goal line. When he turned to the right out of the box away from goal, an onrushing Blaine player came from his blind side and tackled him hard just as he spun. It was a fair tackle in the sense that player got all ball, but Dunn landed headfirst, and as he put it later, “The world was swimming.”

He was out for the remainder of the game, and Rivas was back in. A number of players had to leave the field due to injuries, and at one point Vashon was playing down two men as there were no more subs. However, they were able to literally limp out with a zero-zero tie, which felt like a win.

Vashon has a break from soccer this week and most of next. Their next game will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, at the Vashon High School stadium against conference rival Bellevue Christian.

— Greg Martin is the father of two high school athletes.