2 late goals give NK opening round district win
Published 1:30 am Monday, May 11, 2026
Some late heroics led the No. 6-seeded North Kitsap Vikings (10-6-1, 8-6 in Olympic League) to win its opening round district playoff match 2-0 over the No. 11-seeded North Mason Bulldogs (5-11-1, 4-10 OL) May 9 in Poulsbo.
“Chaos ball,” NK head coach Greg St. Peter said, describing the match. “I mean, our guys have been grinding all season.”
NK will now play No. 3-seed Port Angeles in the district quarterfinals at 6 p.m. May 12 at Peninsula College.
Viking Akiles Lopez was flipped onto his back within the first five minutes of the match after attempting to put in a score, setting the tone for the rest of the contest.
The two offenses could not find their rhythm despite NK tallying five shots on goal by the 15-minute mark, limiting the Bulldogs to zero and giving Viking goalkeeper Jace Pickard little to no work.
NK’s defense remained stout, preventing the Bulldogs from mounting any sort of offense. Viking midfielder Nolan Bond landed an up-close shot on goal, but couldn’t get it to find the back of the net.
The Vikings couldn’t put a goal in after accruing nine shots on goal through the first half. Nonetheless, their defense proved to be the strong point, limiting North Mason to zero shots on goal. St. Peter told his players to “lock in” for the second half after calls didn’t go in the Vikings’ favor.
“Yeah, we obviously weren’t very happy with the ref,” Viking Dylan Benecki said. “So (coach) just told us, lock in, don’t chew down on each other, because it’s only going to cause us to make more mistakes.”
Lopez put a shot on net within the first three minutes of the beginning of the second half, and Bond had a strong opportunity to put in the first goal of the game after the North Mason goalie mishandled the ball, but couldn’t convert, keeping the match scoreless with 34 minutes remaining.
The physicality increased as time continued to dwindle down, with Vikings and Bulldogs colliding and roughing each other up. Nonetheless, the referees let them play, not calling a yellow card or red card on either team for the increased physicality.
NK’s offense began to awaken in the final ten minutes of the game with Owen Leslie kicking the ball into an open net, giving NK the lead at 1-0. Benecki, who was called up from the Vikings’ JV team, scored another goal to seal the victory.
“(It feels) great, especially since we worked so hard for the win,” Benecki said. “We went into practice a few days ago, (and) we were sloppy. We didn’t know how this game was gonna go.”
