The Vashon Pirates boys’ varsity soccer team entered spring break as the number one ranked 1A team in Washington State.
Two weeks after their week off, Vashon is still undefeated and, though no longer number one, is still a heavy favorite to lift the trophy come May.
After their week of spring break rest, the Pirates were thrown right back into the frying pan, first going against the Nisqually League’s only other team of real note: the Cascade Christian Cougars. This year, the Cougars were the most confident their squad has been in many years. Reigning Nisqually League MVP Kyle Hughes is in his senior year, as is the uber-athletic center back Josiah Gopaul.
The Pirates travelled to Sumner Tuesday, April 8 to play at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium, a field where they have a lot of history. Back in 2019, Vashon beat Toledo there to lift the state trophy for the first time in their history, and two years ago, the Pirates came back from a 3-0 deficit against Cascade Christian to win 4-3.
This time, the first half of the game was cagey, with neither side able to gain a foothold — that is, until Pirate fullback Xan London-Chambers picked out Isaac Newcomb, on the right-hand side, who played a sharp ball across the face of the goal for Lewis Thompson to thunder it home, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead going into halftime. However, Vashon came out of the break sluggish and, less than a minute into the second half, a poor clearance fell to Cougar freshman Ezekiel Gopaul, who finished on the volley to tie it up at one a piece.
But just as fast as Cascade Christian leveled matters, Lewis Thompson bulldozed past the entire Cougar back line and finished to regain the lead for Vashon and, alongside his hard work throughout the game, earn him Man of the Match. The next 15 minutes were back-and-forth until Cougar player Kyle Hughes curled a beautiful effort into the top left corner to beat Vashon goalkeeper Jeff Nelson and square things back up at two.
After that, the Cougars truly believed they could win it, putting heavy pressure on the Pirates’ defense up until the final seconds of the match — when Mason Haynes, who had been relatively silent for the majority of the night, ran down the right hand side and finished at the keeper’s near post to get the Pirates the win and cap off another Sunset Chev classic.
The following Friday, April 11, Vashon travelled to Tukwila for another highly anticipated showdown against the Foster Bulldogs. Last year, Foster beat the Pirates 3-2, with Joni Respighi’s two goals not enough to make up for a struggling Pirates defense.
This year was a completely different game. Vashon dominated the match from kickoff to full time, outclassing a disjointed Bulldogs side. Goals from Joni Respighi and Lewis Thompson, coupled with an imperious Man of the Match performance from Gavin Keenan at center back, earned the Pirates a 2-0 win.
After a weekend off, the Pirates returned home Monday, April 14 to host the Annie Wright Gators, who arrived ranked second from the bottom in the 1A league at 71st. The game went as expected, with Vashon putting 12 goals past the weakest — by far — opponent they’ve faced this year. The goals came from just about everyone, and not a single Pirate really had to leave second gear, but Isaac Newcomb won Man of the Match for his goal and assists.
Just two days later, Vashon would play its most anticipated match of the season.
On Wednesday, April 16, the Pirates took the bus to Redmond to face the 1A state champions: the Overlake Owls. Overlake is the winningest team in Washington 1A boys’ soccer, boasting a staggering six state titles and five second-place finishes. Last year, the Owls won the state tournament without conceding a single goal, knocking off the Royal City Knights 1-0 in the final.
Even though the Pirates had just won 12-0, merely playing a team as low-ranked as Annie Wright had dropped Vashon to second in the state rankings and pushed Overlake to first, making this the marquee 1A matchup of the year.
Vashon started off slow, succumbing to Overlake’s pressure and giving the ball away time and time again until, 12 minutes in, Pirate midfielder Finn Kennan gave the ball away cheaply in a dangerous area, allowing Owls midfielder Drew Case to place a beauty into the top left corner to give Overlake the lead.
Vashon continued to struggle in possession until midfielders Avery MacLean and Quill Tegenfeldt-Pfohman entered the match, adding some much-needed structure to their side. The score remained 1-0 at halftime and around 15 minutes into the second half, with the pendulum of control swinging both ways but neither side able to score.
That changed, however, when Isaac Newcomb played a corner kick into the near post of Overlake’s goal and, bizarrely, it managed to trickle in. From there, it was all Vashon, and six minutes later, a perfect through ball from Tegenfeldt-Pfohman found Joni Respighi to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Vashon held on to the lead for a whole four minutes until Drew Case muscled Gavin Keenan off the ball and slotted it past Nelson to square things up.
The match ended 2-2, and despite not winning, Vashon came away with more positives than negatives.
First: The second half was marred by some disastrous refereeing. If the calls had been made correctly, the Pirates would have earned a penalty kick and another chance that the ref failed to play advantage for.
Second: Junior Quill Tegenfeldt-Pfohman once again stepped up for Vashon when it mattered most, coming off the bench like he did in his masterclass against U-Prep, and once again dominating both on and off the ball to earn Man of the Match.
Vashon finishes their regular season campaign with six Nisqually League matches over the next three weeks, the most notable of which on May 1 — when the Pirates host the Cascade Christian Cougars for senior night.
After that, it’s on to the district tournament and state.
Oscar Lopez is an island sportswriter, a senior at Vashon High School and a Voice of Vashon commentator for the island’s soccer teams.
Pirates schedule
• Thursday, April 24: Away at Klahowya. 6:45 p.m. kickoff.
• Saturday, April 26: Home vs Bellevue Christian. 5:15 p.m. kickoff.
• Tuesday, April 29: Away at Charles Wright. 4:30 p.m. kickoff.
• Thursday, May 1: Home vs Cascade Christian. 5:45 p.m. kickoff.
• Tuesday, May 6: Away at Seattle Christian. 3:15 p.m. kickoff.
• Thursday, May 8: Away at Life Christian. 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
All matches are broadcast on KVSH-LP 101.9 FM Voice of Vashon or voiceofvashon.org.
