Vashon Student-Athletes Play Hard in Latest Matches

Girls’ soccer players, coach honored

At the close of each sports season, each coach nominates the players he or she feels should be considered for the Nisqually All-League Teams.

When the voting takes place, coaches may only vote for players from other teams. This process makes the distinction even more impressive, as it means these players caught the attention of the opposing coaches as they played.

The Vashon High School Girls’ Soccer team is well represented on this year’s list, with six players named to the First Team and one player awarded Honorable Mention.

Winning Goalkeeper of the Year for the second year in a row, senior Tamsen Henry was a “no-brainer” according to coach, Scott Nicolino.

“Tamsen is the best keeper in the league… period.”

Junior Phoebe Wilke was named Offensive Player of the Year. Nicolino was pleased to put her in an attacking position this year in order to maximize the team’s strengths offensively.

Senior forward Payton Venturi and junior midfielder Franki Brown were also recognized for their contributions to Vashon’s offense and named to the First Team. Midfielder Linnea Heuschert and defender Liv Ormseth earned the rare honor of being the only freshmen in the league to be placed on the First Team. Defender Alana Bass, also a freshman, just missed joining them, receiving the most votes in the Honorable Mention category.

Scott Nicolino was voted Co-coach of the Year by his peers alongside Kieren Raney, who led Bellevue Christian through an undefeated season. — Jenni Wilke, parent

VHS boys’ soccer dominates Charles Wright

The Vashon boys soccer team brought home their first win of the season last Thursday at an away game against Charles Wright Academy.

The starting lineup was noticeably different in comparison to their first game against Bellevue Christian. This was due to a variety of reasons, including player eligibility, health and travel plans for spring break.

Vashon took the first kick-off and immediately pressured Charles Wright’s defense. Sophomore striker Nick Zuckerman and senior attacking midfielder Jakob Heuschert were both back on the field for the first time this season and their presence was impactful from the get-go. Less than a minute in, Heuschert carried the ball down the midfield and threaded the ball to Zuckerman making for a risky situation for Charles Wright.

The shot didn’t land but the ball stayed in Charles Wright’s side of the field. Nine minutes into the first half, Heuschert once again was able to send a diagonal pass to Zuckerman, who was there to tap in Vashon’s first goal.

In the 17th minute, Vashon earned a throw-in by the 25-yard line on Charles Wright’s half. Senior center back Chris Fontina took the throw and placed it just inside the goal box, easily throwing the ball at least 20+ yards. Both Heuschert and Zuckerman were in a position to receive it, but it was Zuckerman who knocked it in.

Vashon continued on through the half with controlled possession and impressive communication, often, strategically playing it back to defenders such as junior Teo Eckhardt, junior Jaime Pereyda, and sophomore Eythan Hyllested who would then redistribute the ball from the backline.

Vashon’s offense kept pushing and their defense remained steady and in control, consistently working together to make smart tackles.

Vashon earned another throw-in in nearly the exact same spot as before and the result mirrored that of the previous goal-scoring play. Fontina took the throw and threw an arcing ball to the top of the goal box. Again, Zuckerman was there to head it in.

Throughout the remainder of the first half Vashon kept the pressure on Charles Wright with many close goal-scoring opportunities. These included a quick passing sequence that originated with sophomore Evan Serebryakov on the right and went to senior Will Kim in the box, to Heuschert at the top of the 18 who took the shot with his left, hitting the crossbar and barely missing the goal. Both Kim and senior Bassam Almustafa also almost scored in the final minutes of the half. Vashon closed the first half with a solid 3-0 lead and a hat-trick for Zuckerman.

The second half kicked off with the same impressive level of play and intensity. Kim had a goal-scoring opportunity in a breakaway run less than three minutes in, but Charles Wright’s keeper successfully kept the score 3-0 in a well-timed tackle.

Vashon continued to push but the score stayed at a standstill until 14 minutes into the second half when Vashon got another throw-in in Charles Wright’s defensive half. A throw-in often isn’t a goal-scoring opportunity, but at this point, it was clear Vashon was more than capable of scoring off of a Fontina throw-in. Once again, Fontina took the throw and delivered an on-target ball to senior Jessie Townsend who was successful in heading it in to bring the score up to 4-0.

In the following minutes, Charles Wright had the most goal-scoring opportunities that they had all game with an offside breakaway run in the 17th minute and another shot that sailed to the right of the net. Charles Wright might have had a few opportunities, but Vashon continued to dominate the game.

Heuschert carried the ball into the box and was looking to shoot when a Charles Wright defender came in for the tackle — a play many in the crowd called out as unsafe, and deserving to be called as a foul. However, despite this questionable call, or rather lack thereof, Vashon continued to have many goal-scoring opportunities.

As the minutes ticked down, junior Bellamy Cox brought the score up to 5-0 after tapping in a behind-the-back heel assist by Heuschert.

With less than five minutes on the clock Almustafa, Kim, and Cox all had shots. Just seconds before the final whistle, Pereyda pushed up on the right wing and shot a hard low ball that flew past the Charles Wright keeper. This goal made the final score 6-0, complete domination by Vashon.

Vashon’s first home game, playing Annie Wright, will be at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, April 15, at Vashon High School. — Lila Cohen, student

Baseball plays on despite losses

On April 8, Vashon varsity baseball played Cedar Park Christian. The perennial state contender proved a tough match for the young Pirates team. Unfortunately, a series of errors also stung Vashon in the field. Giving up extra outs was not a winning recipe against the hard-hitting Eagles who belted 2 home runs and 14 hits.

Will Weber started on the mound for Vashon throwing three innings and Sam Walker pitched in relief.

“It is great experience for our young players to go up against this level of competition,” said Coach Perrin. “I liked how our at-bats continued to improve in this game. A lot of players had a good sense of what they wanted to do at the plate. We had bases loaded twice and gave ourselves chances.”

Indeed the at-bats were looking better, with the entire team going deep in counts, drawing six walks, clubbing five hits and overall having much better looks at the ball than the previous game.

Will Frith’s RBI single in the first and Joshua Parrish’s sacrifice fly in the fourth provided the scoring for Vashon in the lopsided affair that wound up 20-2.

Vashon JV played their first game of the season against Cedar Park Christian JV after the varsity match up and it was an exciting, close contest through six. The effort was punctuated by solid Vashon defense particularly in the outfield as Aaron Brockschmidt, Cash Cochran and Michael Ryland tracked down a flock of fly balls throughout the game.

“The JV squad showed up and really played well against some tough competition in their first game, especially the defense,” said Coach Perrin.

Will Frith pitched five innings with only two earned runs; Jack Harvey, Finn Magonagil and Mawell Delgado-Williams pitched the last two innings in relief.

Caleb Guadamuz and Finn Magonegil picked up RBI’s to keep it 5-2 going into the final inning. But fates turn quickly in baseball and only three outs later, the Pirates fell 9-2.

Both squads made quality steps forward despite the losses and are looking forward to continuing that trend in week three of the season. On Wednesday (after press time), they will play a home game against Bellevue Christian. At 4 p.m. on April 21, the team will meet Seattle Christian, also at home at Jim Martin Field. — Eric Frith, parent