Soccer team moves ahead to second round of playoffs

The VHS varsity girls soccer team piled on the bus Saturday morning for a long drive and 1 p.m. start time against the Coupeville Wolves. The game was at Oak Harbor High School on the north end of Whidbey Island. The Pirates had ample opportunities early on, including a penalty kick by junior Dalia Aladin about nine minutes into the game. Unfortunately, it clanged off of the bottom right goal post, and Coupeville had dodged an early bullet. Luckily, Vashon was just getting warmed up. It wasn’t long after that freshman Payton Venturi was on the scoring end of a break-away goal to put the Pirates up 1-0. As half time approached, Vashon struck again with a beautiful pass from junior Anna Riggs to sophomore striker Sydnee Adams, who blasted it past the Coupeville goalie to make it two goals to none at halftime. The Pirates focused their second half efforts on keeping a clean sheet. Which they did, sending the Wolves home for the season 2-0. Round two of the playoffs for Vashon is Tuesday evening at Renton Memorial Stadium at 6:30 p.m. against Bellevue Christian. They will play again Thursday at Fife High School against a TBD opponent pending the outcome of Tuesday’s game.

— Scott Nicolino is head coach of the VHS’ girls’ soccer team.