North Kitsap defeats Port Angeles in penalty kicks to stay within striking distance of first place

POULSBO — The Vikings needed to take three points from Port Angeles in order to tie them for first place in the Olympic League on Tuesday night.

They won the match, but were unfortunately only able to get two as the two teams went to penalty kicks after playing scoreless soccer for 90 minutes.

Emma Harper, Audrey Zinn, Emily DeLay and Maiya Greene scored as North Kitsap (12-1-1) won the shootout 4-2 and the match 1-0.

Because the district tournament bracket does not reseed after the first round, the second place team from the Olympic League is the one that has the opportunity to play in the district championship game, while the first place team cannot finish higher than third. The disadvantage is that the second place team must win two games to reach the 2A state tournament while the first place team only has to win one.

With two league matches remaining, North Kitsap can finish no lower than second in the Olympic League, which will give them an opportunity to host a first round district game on either Nov. 2 or Nov. 5

But after losing 5-0 to the Roughriders in Port Angeles (11-2-1) earlier this year, the team was happy to pick up the victory either way.

“I was happy because the performance we had up there, the score line didn’t really reflect how the game went,” said head coach Greg St. Peter.

Both teams had a few chances to break the stalemate in regulation. North Kitsap’s best chance came after Kamora McMillian sent a perfect pass from the midfield to a streaking Charlotte Bond. As the Port Angeles keeper charged out of her net to play the ball, Bond managed to lift the ball up over the keeper, but it ended up bouncing right into the goal post.

The Roughriders played defensively against the Vikings, keeping numbers back in order to keep their counterattack contained.

“We do have a lot of speed and I think they try to absorb that, but we did great, we were finding the slot and working our way up the field.”

North Kitsap was down 1-0 after the first round of the shootout, but Harper and Zinn converted while Sophia Pixton made a save on one Port Angeles attempt and another went high over the net to give them a 2-1 lead. Greene scored the final penalty with a shot to the low right corner to set off the celebration.

— Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com. Follow him on Twitter @MKrulishKDN.