“POULSBO – The North Kitsap High School girls’ soccer team opened their season with a win Thursday night, shutting out Central Kitsap 1-0. The Lady Vikings struck early in the game. In the second minute, North Kitsap’s Brandy Madle and Chelsie O’Neill-Dewing were flying down the field on a break. Madle passed to O’Neill-Dewing, who was running down the wing. O’Neill-Dewing’s pass back to Madle found her right in front of the net. When her shot was deflected by the Cougar keeper, the ball rolled to Lindsey Ross, who kicked it into the left side of the net. It was 1-0 North Kitsap, and would stay that way for the rest of the game. After the first goal, both keepers settled down, and each team found themselves battling every pass and possession. Lacey Cooper, who shared time in goal with Mercedi Smalley, smothered a shot early, then was the recipient of a bit of luck when a shot bounced off the crossbar straight down, but didn’t go into the net. For North, playing defense for much of the night meant playing defense against Nicole Zygmontowicz, a transfer to Central Kitsap from Klahowya. Zygmontowicz often found herself in an advantageous position, streaking ahead of the pack with a ball at her foot. But all of her shots were tipped, or caught, or smothered by the keeper. After the first goal, keeper Kelly Costello and the defense made things a lot harder for North Kitsap, who, like Central Kitsap, couldn’t score on numerous opportunities. During one play, Lydia Ramsey’s shot sailed wide. During another, Chelsie O’Neill-Dewing’s pass found Brandy Madle in front of the net, in a repeat of the earlier scoring play – but this shot was wide as well. As the clock wound down, each team tried to score, Central Kitsap to tie the game, and North to put it away. After the game, coach Teri Ishihara was happy with the result. We played hard. Everyone gave everything they could, she said. She knew beforehand, Ishihara said, that the game would not be an easy one for the Lady Vikings. We knew it was going to be tough, she said. They’re a good team. Ishihara found praise for the play in goal. Both keepers did outstanding, they made some great saves, she said. Ishihara also spotted some qualities that will need to improve if North Kitsap wants to reach their goal of winning league. But she is pleased with the effort. For this early in the season I’d say we played well, she said. On the other side of the field, Central Kitsap coach Lee Yeager saw his team also play a good game. They just came up on the wrong end of it. I feel like we played very very hard, he said, as the players headed back to the bus home. Both teams did. Whenever you come up here, you expect teams to come hard at the ball. As Yeager spoke, the lights were shut down, suddenly plunging the field into darkness. Before he left the field, Yeager wanted to add that this was just the beginning of the season. There’s a whole lot of soccer left, he said. “