The Pirate boys soccer team sandwiched home wins over Chimacum, 5-0, and Orting, 2-1, around a 3-0 road loss to Charles Wright last week.
Tuesday, April 14, was a day of firsts for the Pirates. Adrian Arceo played for the first time this season and scored his first goal. Michael Butz got the first goal of his high school career. Sjors Steneker scored his first goal in his first minute in the game. And first-year goalkeeper Robert McGinnis registered his first shutout.
Vashon attacked the Cowboys’ net from the opening whistle and in the 22nd minute Will O’Neil fed the ball to Arceo, who converted for the score.
O’Neil got his own goal in the 36th minute when he placed a twisting free kick over the Chimacum keeper from about 30 yards.
In the locker room during halftime, Pirate coach Paul Beytebiere entreated the team to take more shots. Tyler Sayvetz took the advice to heart with less than two minutes gone in the second half. Taking a pass from Elias Weston, Sayvetz drilled a low shot to the far post to make it 3-0.
Butz got his score unassisted in the 63rd minute.
Steneker entered the game in the 69th minute. On the restart Nathan Osgood threw the ball in to O’Neil. He turned and passed to the far post where Steneker was waiting to head it in.
After the game McGinnis estimated that he had handled the ball “maybe three times” other than on goal kicks. His final touch was a nice save of a Chimacum corner kick in the closing minutes.
On Wednesday the Pirates travelled to league leader Charles Wright to try to avenge an earlier loss to the Tarriers, but it was not to be. As in the earlier game at Vashon, Charles Wright’s Dillon Truscott led the scoring with the first and third Tarrier tallies. Anthony DiLeonardo got the other goal for the home team.
Truscott scored early, then the Pirates came back, keeping the Tarriers on the defensive for much of the mid-game, but the Tarriers defenders and keeper Max Zimmerman stopped every Pirate scoring chance. It wasn’t until the 77th and 79th minutes that Charles Wright put the game out of reach, 3-0.
Pirates and Cardinals met for the first time when Orting came to Vashon on Friday. The two teams were fighting for second place in the Nisqually League.
Vashon struck quickly when Arceo got through the Cardinals’ defense for an unassisted goal in the fifth minute. He made it 2-0 in the 35th minute with an assist from Thomas Timm-Skove.
McGinnis put on an amazing show of goalkeeping and was only 10 minutes from his second shutout of the week when Orting’s Chris Buyagawan powered through the Pirate defense for a close-in shot past McGinnis.
The 2-1 win gave Vashon possession of second place with three games left in the regular season. The Pirates hosted Life Christian last night and travel to Cascade Christian tomorrow. The regular season ends at Orting Tuesday, April 28.
Chimacum does not have a JV team so the Pirates JV had to wait until Wednesday for their first win of the season, 3-0 over Charles Wright.
The junior Pirates pounded the Tarrier defense for more than 21 minutes before Ezra Koenig found the back of the net on an assist from Dylan Payne. Koenig made it 2-0 in the 44th minute with Lucian Pizzano getting the assist. Payne added the final tally in the 58th minute with an assist from Sam Crosby. Pirate keeper Logan Lewis picked up his first win and first shutout.
Vashon had to settle for a 1-1 draw in Friday’s JV game. Dominick Stemer put a shot over the Orting keeper’s head to put the Pirates up 1-0 in the 60th minute. Orting evened up things up on a penalty kick in the 66th minute. Lewis dived to his right and got a hand on the ball but couldn’t quite deflect it outside the post.
— Rik Forschmiedt is a former Beachcomber sports editor.
