On Saturday, March 11, the Vashon High School (VHS) varsity boys’ soccer kicked off their season on home turf against Cedar Park Christian School in a friendly, non-league game.

VHS looked good through warm-up and came into the game strong. The first half was filled with lots of possession from both teams, fouls, and shots. By halftime, however, the Pirates were down and had not yet scored.

Within 15 minutes of the start of the second half, freshman Isaac Newcomb scored the first goal of the season for the Pirates, and things began to look up.

Unfortunately, just a couple of minutes later, Cedar Park scored once again.

But the Pirates continued fighting. It looked much like the first half: despite their best efforts and a second goal, the Pirates were unable to catch up and lost 2-4.

While the loss was an unfortunate outcome, the match showed a promising season ahead for the Pirates.

Three days later, the Pirates played Life Christian Academy at home in the first league game of the season. Life Christian caught the Pirates on their heels and was able to score within a minute. Despite Life Christian’s early goal, the Pirates were having great success with their team playing and passing.

Halfway into the first half, Newcomb scored, starting off the Pirate’s goals for a second game in a row. There continued to be good playing from both teams, although VHS dominated in possession.

Just five minutes before the first half ended, freshman Lewis Thompson scored, giving the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

The second half started the same as the first with a quick goal from Life Christian tying the score back up. Only one more goal was scored in the second half by VHS, but it was unfortunately called offsides. The score stayed tied throughout the entire half until the final whistle was blown.

The crowd was pleasantly surprised when it became clear that there would be two five-minute halves of overtime for a golden goal, as the game was so exciting. Before the first five minutes were over, senior captain, Moses Trundle-Strachan, got a big breakaway starting from the 50-yard line.

Spectators were getting antsy with the anticipation of a goal, but Trundle-Strachan was unable to score due to a collision with the Life Christian keeper. The defense tried to clear the loose ball without success. Senior captain Nick Zuckerman had an open goal that he took, scoring the golden goal.

The final score was 3-2.

Since then, the Pirates have played three league games, held away from home.

The first game, on March 16, was against East Jefferson High School in Port Townsend. The game ended 7-0, with an impressive goal count and shutout. Trundle-Strachan had a hat trick, while Thompson added two goals to his record. Both Newcomb and sophomore Rowan Marceau-Roache also had one of their own. The second game, a week later, was against VHS rivals Bellevue Christian. It was a close game, with the Pirates coming out on top, winning 4-3.

On March 28, the Pirates traveled to Annie Wright and had a great win, 8-0. Three days later, the Pirates went into spring break playing a non-league friendly against Sultan High School, with an unfortunate 1-2 loss.

The team continued their thus-far successful season with an away game shutout on April 13, against Life Christian Academy, winning 1-0, thanks to another goal by freshman Thompson.

The Pirates followed that up with yet another Nisqually League victory, dismantling the East Jefferson Rivals for the second time already this season — this time by a score of 6-0, led yet again by Trundle-Strachan’s two goals, along with Lewis Thompson’s two goals and one assist.

As of now, the Pirates have an impressive conference record of 6-0 and an overall record of 6-2.

Linnea Heuschert is the team captain of the VHS Girls’ Varsity Soccer.