Wolverines Fall 4-0 in Final Game;
Take Fourth in State
Story by Ian Byington of San Juan Island Update
If the Friday Harbor Wolverines got points for hitting the goalkeeper with
the ball, they would have won 20-2 Saturday in the game for third-place in
the state soccer championships. Instead, they came away with a
disappointing 4-0 loss to Mount Vernon Christian to finish the finest
season FHHS soccer has put together.
Playing without freshman defender Louis Paul who broke his nose the day
earlier against University Prep, Friday Harbor adjusted by bringing
midfielder JoHannes Paul back into defense and starting Nunez and senior
Carl Billington in midfield. The Wolverines (18-2) began knocking at the
door early, as senior forward Trefor Bacon’s pass to sophomore midfielder
Mario Nunez grazed the low left post a minute into the game. The
Wolverines put together five more shots before the Hurricanes managed a
shot, most notably a wide-open breakaway by Nunez that MVC keeper Matthew
VanderArk palmed away at the last nanosecond.
Then the Hurricanes struck, as senior forward David Adeline found a little
space between the fast-closing defenders on the left to hit the top net
for a 1-0 advantage with 18 minutes gone.
Friday Harbor came out hard and furious in the second half, ripping off
eleven shots in the first nine minutes, but Hurricane Daniel Westra nodded
in a well-placed corner at 19 minutes, and the Wolverine catch-up game
fell short as Mount Vernon Christian tucked in two more to avenge three
regular season and playoff losses to FHHS. Head Coach Ron Duke emptied the
bench to end the game, giving the Friday Harbor fans a look at the future
of next year’s squad.
After the game, Duke and the team accepted the fourth-place trophy for
their season’s efforts. The team won their District during regular season,
and won the league’s number one seed with playoff wins over MVC and Lopez
High. After advancing the Final Eight with a convincing 3-0 win over Bear
Creek a week ago, the Wolverines finished the season with losses to
University Prep and MVC to take fourth in state.
[Ian Byington helps cover soccer for the San Juan Islander. The long time high school and middle school coach directed the FHHS girls soccer team in its early years, and also covered professional soccer for the newspapers in Portland. He currently publishes the online San Juan Update on San Juan Island, beginning its eighth year this month.]
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