Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

Pitting the top teams in the NWAACC West, the Saturday game was supposed to clear up which team likely would take the division crown.

Instead, things only became murkier.

Peninsula and host Bellevue battled to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 17, leaving the Pirates just two points ahead of the Bulldogs and, with Highline's 1-0 win against Tacoma, just five points ahead of Highline with five games left in the season.

After a scoreless first half, Peninsula took the lead at the 56-minute mark when Steve Williams got the ball from Jason Simonis, was able to get around the defense and snuck it past the Bellevue keeper, Williams' fifth score of the campaign.

Bellevue answered back 10 minutes later, getting a score from Davis Smith.

"The field conditions were sloppy but we still got to do some good things," Peninsula coach Andrew Chapman said. "We still need to find a way to play an entire game and get shutouts."

Peninsula plays at fourth-place Tacoma on Oct. 21 before hosting winless Olympic on Oct. 24. The Pirates host Bellevue Nov. 4 before finishing the season at home on Nov. 7 against Tacoma.



Pirates top

Trojans at home

A little sloppy in the first half, but razor-sharp in the second.

Peninsula rebounded from a loss to Wenatchee Valley three days previous to clobber Everett 6-1 in a nonconference contest at home on Oct. 14.

John Troka scored two second-half goals and Aaron Oppeltz had a hat trick of assists as the second-ranked P.C. men improved to 8-4-2 on the season.

The Pirates scored first after Bobby Catania made good on an assist by Jaime Camarena just 13 minutes into the match.

The P.C. men made it 2-0 when Port Angeles High grad Jagpreet Kang took a pass from Oppeltz and rocketed a shot past Everett keeper Erik Cruz.

Everett closed the gap on a rebound goal by Kevin Chavez on a ball that initially was blocked by P.C. keeper Jase Hall, about four minutes before halftime.

Peninsula had all the momentum, however, in the second half as the Pirates knocked in four unanswered goals. Troka scored a pair while Connor Taylor and Cory Matthews added one each.

The Pirates' other assists came from Troka and Ryan Muyskens.

Peninsula out-shot Everett 22-5, keeping Cruz busy; the Everett keeper had 11 saves.

Peninsula's Hall had four saves and Brent Ricigliano, who played keeper in the second half, had one.



Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.



NWAACC West

standings

Team Lg. Over.

Peninsula 4-2-2 8-4-2

Bellevue 3-2-3 7-4-2

Highline 2-4-3 7-6-3

Tacoma 2-6-0 2-6-0

Olympic 0-8-0 0-9-0