The Wolverines beat the Vikings in close soccer game

Boys Soccer:

The Friday Harbor Wolverines boys soccer team played against Orcas Vikings on their home turf on Orcas on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

“Orcas is a long-time island rival and a team we always look forward to playing. They are a strong program that plays a great style of soccer,” coach Brett Paul said. “Last season, Orcas beat us in the semi-finals in the final 4 state tournaments before moving on to win the state championship last November which definitely added fuel to our team’s intensity and focus in practice leading up to this match.”

It was a nail-biting game between the evenly matched teams. Both the Wolverines and Vikings had momentum at different points throughout the two halves.

“Our goalie, Luke Totten had three or four crucial saves throughout regulation time keeping the score 0-0 at the end of the second half, which led us to our overtime series,” Paul said, explaining that overtime consists of two five-minute halves and a “golden goal” (one goal ends the game). Two minutes into overtime, Friday Harbor’s Alden Carli won the ball from Orcas at the top of Orcas’s 18-yard box and played a through ball to Mateo Zappelli. Zappelli broke free of Orcas’s center back, #5 Deigo Lago and shot from the end-line across the mouth of the goal. The ball went over, just out of reach of Orcas’s goalie, and into the far side of the net ending the game 1-0. It was a thrilling ending to a well-fought game by both teams.

“This was a big win for us at this point this season having only played one game to prepare for such a match. We are eager to play Orcas again at home on Tuesday, Oct. 11.” Paul said. “I Encourage the community to come to watch, it will be a game they won’t want to miss!”

Girls Soccer:

The girls soccer finished their third, three-game week, playing a total of nine matches in 18 days. “We rounded out the nine with a match against Granite Falls on Tuesday, La Conner on Thursday, and Mariner on Saturday. The Granite Falls match was a rough one, a lot of physical play which caused some significant injuries to our team,” Coach Kevin Cullen said. The first half was cut short after a senior forwards was taken to the ER due to a hit from behind. That injury was difficult for the whole team, but Cullen said he was so impressed by the girls ability to rally themselves for the second half. In the last few minutes of the game, the Wolverines keeper suffered an injury after a hard hit. The team kept going and come out victorious with a 2-1 win.

Thursday’s La Conner match was a good reprieve as they are experiencing a down year. Their coach is hopeful that they will be back to their usual form next year, which would be great for the league, according to Cullen. “We finished the match with an 8-0 win. The final match for the week was against a 4A school from Everett. They beat us 5-1 last year as we were coming out of covid, having no games our previous season,” Cullen said. “This time was different as we handled them very well, despite their physical play. We were able to open up passing lanes and had great interplay with our midfield and forwards. Our defense did a great job playing as a unit and we ended with a 2-0 win.”

Their next home game will be Saturday, Oct. 1 at noon, at the Linde Community Fields against Bear Creek.

Volleyball:

Thursday, Sept. 22 the Wolverines volleyball team took on LaConner. Each player gave the game their all, cheering one another on despite the odds. The girls got some good hits in, and communicated well but in the end the solid LaConner team beat Friday Harbor 3-0.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, however, the Wolverines came back fighting harder than ever, winning 3-0 against Granite Falls. The next home game will be Thursday, Sept. 29 at 4:30 where they take on Concrete.