The Vashon Island Pirates boys varsity soccer team is now entering the final stage of their season: the state tournament.

But if the Pirates hope to progress deep into the tournament, they will need to work out some serious flaws in their system — flaws that were once again exploited last week by the consistent thorn in the Pirates’ side, the Cascade Christian Cougars.

First, and as expected, Vashon brushed past Klahowya in the district semi-finals by a score of 7-0 on Tuesday, May 13. The Vashon players never had to leave 3rd gear, but Man of the Match went to Lewis Thompson for his stunning four-goal contribution.

Then came the time on Thursday, May 15, for the big one: the district final against the Cascade Christian Cougars, the only team to have beaten the Pirates this season. The Pirates started the game shaky, with a poor giveaway by Isaac Newcomb and a sequence of defensive errors leading to a chance at the back post for Cascade Christian’s Kyle Hughes, who somehow managed to send his shot wide.

But Vashon turned things around. Only three and a half minutes in, Thompson found the feet of Mason Haynes, who escaped the pressure of the Cougars centerback Carson Bloomstine, took the ball past the goalkeeper, and scored on an empty net to make it 1-0.

After that, however, things only went downhill. Six minutes later, Bloomstine sent a long free kick into the Pirates’ box that found the head of Josiah Gopaul, who flicked it to his Cougar teammate Solomon Leamann. Leamann then managed to get a shot on target, which was saved by Pirate goalkeeper Jeff Nelson. But Leamann got to the ball before either of the Vashon centerbacks and squeezed it through to Gopaul at the back post, who tapped it home before Pirate left back Oskar Cobb could react.

Vashon had picked up right where they left off against Cascade Christian, with more disastrous defending inside their own 18-yard box, and it didn’t stop there.

Thirteen minutes later, the Cougars were awarded a corner kick, which Pirate centerback Gavin Keenan managed to clear away. After the clearance, Vashon wasn’t able to advance their defensive line out of their 18-yard box quickly enough, allowing the Cougars to send the ball back in and find Sammy Gaudette in an onside position, who found the back of the net to make it 2-1.

The nightmare continued as, four minutes later, Cascade Christian won another corner kick. Vashon was getting bullied by the more physical Cougars players, and Nelson was being jostled so vigorously that when the corner kick came in, he turned it into his own net.

To put the icing on the cake, another corner nine minutes later was cleared away by Isaac Newcomb, only for it to ricochet off of Cougar forward Jose Nobrega, hit off the crossbar, and fall directly to the feet of Maddox Miller, who tapped it in the net to make it 4-1. It was the most goals Vashon has conceded — and the most significant deficit Vashon has experienced — in a game this season.

At the very end of the first half, Vashon managed to get a goal back with Thompson finding Rowan Marceau-Roache in the Cougars’ box, who took advantage of the Cascade Christian keeper coming off his line too late and touched it in for 4-2.

The second half was less eventful, with Vashon probing away at a Cascade Christian team that was just looking to maintain their lead. The biggest moment came with around 15 minutes to go when Vashon was awarded a penalty kick. Haynes stepped up to take the spot kick, but it was saved by the goalkeeper Taylor Yeh down to his right.

After that, the Pirates looked like the defeated side, unable to muster the strength to come back from a two-goal deficit. Fifteen minutes went by quickly, and Vashon had lost to Cascade Christian for the second game in a row.

With that loss, the Pirates fell to the 5th seed in the state tournament, meaning that they would not be able to host any state matches. Vashon will travel to Sammamish High School on Friday, May 23, to face the Wapato Wolves.

While the Pirates have had a very challenging schedule, facing many difficult 1A opponents such as Overlake and University Prep, Vashon hasn’t played any teams from eastern Washington.

Wapato comes from a conference that the Pirates have traditionally struggled against. Notably, teams like Royal and Cascade Leavenworth both play a very physical, speed-based style that Vashon has struggled against. That said, most of the players in the current squad played in the losses against Royal and Cascade Leavenworth and bring some necessary experience against Eastern Washington sides.

If Vashon can get past Wapato in the round of 16, they will likely have a rematch with Overlake in the quarter finals, which takes place May 24. Beyond that, it doesn’t get any easier, with the most likely semi-final opponent being the one-seeded University Prep. If the Pirates can get past all that, the team they play in the final would probably be Cascade Christian.

It is crunch time for Vashon, with less than a week to prepare for the round of 16 and the quarter finals, and then one more week before the semi-finals and final. The Pirates must dig in to bounce back and make a deep push into the state tournament.

Oscar Lopez is an island sportswriter, a senior at Vashon High School, and a Voice of Vashon commentator for the island’s soccer teams.