POULSBO – Kingston’s Matt Hust put his team ahead early Tuesday as the Buccaneers cruised to their fourth straight shutout in a 2-0 victory over the visiting Olympic Trojans. The win was Kingston’s sixth in a row, and kept the Bucs atop the Olympic League standings.
The Trojans drove toward the Buccaneer goal just after the opening whistle, but were promptly rebuffed by the Buccaneer defense, which sent the ball upfield to Brian Bain, who fed Hust for the quick, second-minute goal. Hust’s first shot was blocked by Trojan defenders, but he regained possession outside the six yard box on the rebound. Falling backward and to his left, Hust connected with his right foot to send the ball across his body and into the back of the net.
“That changed the game,” Kingston head coach Craig Smith said of the goal. “It gave us a little more confidence and put Olympic on their heels a little bit.”
In the waning daylight, as the sun continued its descent, it took the temperatures and Trojan hopes along with it. Kingston kept their own offense and the Olympic defense busy for most of the first half, as the ball remained in the Buccaneer front third for a good deal of the period.
“They knocked the ball around in the middle about as well as we did, but we penetrated better,” said Smith. “They very rarely got into our third.”
Despite a number of trips downfield and a handful of shots that were easily gathered up by Trojan keeper Thomas Bryan, Kingston failed to capitalize again in the first half, and the score remained one-nil at the break.
“We didn’t shoot a lot, but we seemed to set up a lot,” said Smith.
The second half brought more opportunities for both teams, but only the Bucs were able to make something out of them. In the 67th minute, Kingston’s Eduardo Castro snagged the ball just past midfield and took off toward goal. Speeding past defenders, Castro found himself one-on-one with the keeper and swiftly tucked the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. According to Smith, Castro, who normally plays midfieleder, is the 11th Buccaneer to score this season.
Olympic kept the time of possession more even in the second half than it had been in the first, but the few shots the Trojans attempted fell short. Minutes after Castro’s goal, Kingston keeper Spencer Miele made a breathtaking save by punching the ball over the goal as it arced downward, trying to sneak beneath the crossbar on a shot from long outside the penalty box. By game’s end, Kingston had three times as many shots on goal as Olympic, with a tally of 9-3.
The Bucs returned to Poulsbo Thursday, to face district rival North Kitsap at the NK Stadium. Results were not available at press time, but can be found online at www.northkitsapherald.com.
The game marks the first league meeting between the two teams, and the winner claims the top spot in the Olympic League.
“I know they’re undefeated in league, and so are we,” Smith said on Tuesday. “So that just makes for a better than average game.”
