By ALAN ZOLTIE
For The Beachcomber
Vashon Island High School’s girls soccer team took on Seattle Christian at home Tuesday, Sept. 29 in what turned out to be the best game of the season.
Seattle’s team was captained by Abigail Kim, an islander, whose team showed up in force. From the very start, Seattle’s intentions were clear: get the ball to Kim and hope for the best. After two close calls when Vashon had one of Madison Browne’s spectacular corner kicks cleared off the Seattle line and then another attempt by Maren Fremstad which met the same fate, Kim got hold of the ball. She went on to beat three Pirate defenders and put Seattle up by a one. The pattern continued and within 30 minutes Vashon found themselves down 4-0. They had no answer to Kim, and although coach Karen Olsen made several substitutions to try to stem the tide, it wasn’t until the halftime break that her tactics began to reap benefits, switching Ana DeGuzman into central defense alongside Grace Riggs, and bringing on Kat Andrus to partner Fremstad. Later in the half, Hannah Van Dusen joined in to partner Fremstad. Vashon then began to outplay Seattle to the extent that Ray Weller, the Pirates goalie, never had to make a save until 20 minutes into the second half.
It all started to turn around after Mira Peterson pulled one back for the hosts when she took a superb ball into the box from a free kick taken by Bailey Ormsby. It gave the Pirates hope and inspiration and they soon added two more, one by Van Dusen, her first of the season, and the next by Emily Serebryakova after another devastating through ball that split the Seattle defense. Seattle was all at sea and with ten minutes left to play, Vashon piled on the pressure with one chance after another, but they just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net and make it count.
Going down to the wire with Fremstad lying injured on the ground after being kicked hard by a Seattle defender, Vashon prayed for a miracle, but it never arrived. Despite a courageous half, the game ended in a 4-3 loss. It was really a moral victory for Vashon against the highly-touted Seattle team.
On Thursday evening, under another gorgeous Vashon sky, the Pirates faced Bellevue Christian in the hope of reviving their fortunes after playing so well in the second half against Seattle two days earlier.
Vashon began in a spritely manner, and within minutes the Bellevue Vikings goal was under siege. Bellevue had to rely on their keeper making some decisive saves to keep the score at zero through the first ten minutes. Then, as if by magic, Vashon’s Browne took control of the game from midfield and ran the Vikings ragged with some incredible through balls to Van Dusen, Peterson and Serebryakova that just begged for a great finish to burst the back of the net. However, we just had to wait until the 21st minute for Vashon to get on the scoreboard.
Browne took the ball inside her own half, played an excellent 30 yard pass cross-field to Camille DeGuzman on the left flank. Camille beat two Viking players, then crossed the ball to a wide open Lauren Jenks to shoot home the opener from 5 yards for Vashon.
It was no more than the home side deserved as they continued to press throughout the rest of the first half missing some excellent opportunities, and never quite managing to put the ball over the goal line.
The second half opened in a similar vein and within the first two minutes, after a dazzling run by Peterson, who played an excellent inch perfect pass to Fremstad, the Pirates doubled their lead as Vashon blasted the ball past a hapless Vikings keeper.
From there on in it was smooth sailing for the Pirates as they recorded a 2-0 victory, recording their first league win of the year.
The girls will take on Foster Senior High School in Tukwila at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10.
