Women's soccer: Pirates take West, lock up playoff bye

Area Sports

Women's soccer: Pirates take West, lock up playoff bye

Published on Sun, Oct 28, 2012 by Sequim Gazette staff

Read More Sports

Briana Afoa helps Peninsula knock off Lower Columbia on Wednesday, Oct. 24. Photo courtesy of Rick Ross/Peninsula College

NWAACC West Division standings

Peninsula 13-1-0 18-1-0

Highline 6-4-4 8-5-5

Bellevue 6-4-3 8-5-3

Tacoma 5-7-2 6-8-2

Olympic 2-7-5 3-8-6

Low. Columbia 2-9-3 3-11-4

The Red Devils put up a fight, but in the end the West Division was in Peninsula's grasp.

Brianna Afoa, P.C.'s newly anointed all-time top scorer, had two goals and two assists as the Pirates knocked off Lower Columbia 4-0 at Sigmar Field on Oct. 24.

The win clinched what the Pirates had well within their sights in recent weeks: their second consecutive West Division title, a bye in the first round of the NWAACC playoffs and a home game to open the postseason.

The Red Devils, who came into the game with a 2-10-4 mark, looked to be severely outmatched against the nationally ranked Pirates, but held P.C. to just one goal in the first half, coming from Afoa off an assist from Ashlyn Crossan.

The P.C. women broke through for three goals in the second half, however. Afoa found Morgan Atchley for a score at the 50-minute mark; Afoa then scored her NWAACC-leading 16th goal of the season just two minutes later off an assist from Sydney Bullington. Afoa and Atchley teamed up again for the fourth and final score of the game three minutes after that.

Peninsula outshot Lower Columbia 52 to 0.

Peninsula backup keeper Laura Morgan recorded the shutout with no saves — Lower Columbia recorded no official shots on goal — while Red Devil keeper Emma Glasow had a busy game with 27 stops.

Peninsula added a 4-0 win at Tacoma on Oct. 27. Afoa, Atchley and Kendra Miner were credited with goals.

The Pirates are in Bremerton to take on Olympic on Oct. 31, before finishing the regular season at home Nov. 3 against Bellevue.

Peninsula hosts a second round NWAACC playoff game at 11 a.m. on Nov. 10 at Sigmar Field against the winner of the Nov. 7 matchup between the South division No. 2 seed and East division No. 3 seed.

Poll power

The Pirates moved up to No. 13 on the NSCAA Junior College National Top 20 Poll, a two-position bump from their inaugural ranking a week prior.

Editor's note:

Last week's story about the P.C. women's soccer squad asserted the Pirates clinched the West Division with their win Saturday against Highline.

While Peninsula enlarged their lead in the division with that win, the Pirates didn't actually clinch the division until three days later, Oct. 24, with a 4-0 win against Lower Columbia. - MD