Following a high octane game against Port Townsend on April 14, Sequim boys soccer (4-2 in league, 5-3-2 overall) continued its strong scoring effort to keep pace for top seeding in the Olympic League.

Between two games against Bremerton at home on April 16 and in Olympic on April 18, the Wolves have outscored their opponents 7-1.

While the Knights and Trojans hold losing records, head coach Dave Brasher finds these games equally as important as top-tier games.

“Those are the games we really need to win,” he said, “but are easy to overlook.”

Sequim got out to an fast start hosting Bremerton (2-4, 3-7) with most of the action happening in the first and last few minutes of the game.

Kyle Harrison set the pace early scoring a minute into the game following an assist from Cameron Chase while Will Bitner scored at nine minutes in from another Chase assist.

The Wolves controlled the ball most of the game and had several other shots on goal including a point-blank shot called back for hitting the football goal post. But Harrison got it back moments later (at 77 minutes in) with another goal to go up 3-0 with a Bitner assist. Chase scored on his own a minute later for the 4-0 win.

Brasher said he’s been trying to coach the boys to play smart when leading and to make smart passes and holding the ball more.

While he didn’t score any goals or make any assists, Brasher said Eli Berg was Sequim’s anchor in the middle.

“He played well and tackled hard,” he said. “He wasn’t in the headlines, as they say, but he was doing all the dirty work.”

On Saturday, Sequim had to come from behind early after Olympic (1-5, 3-7) went up 1-0 five minutes in. Harrison evened Sequim at 22 minutes with an assist from Chase.

In the second half, Josiah Urquia stepped up Sequim’s scoring with a goal at 50 minutes with an assist from Berg, and he followed that up 10 minutes later with another goal with the assist from Patrick McCrorie.

Brasher said after the first 15 minutes Sequim settled down and won the possession game playing to their strengths.

“Midway through the second half Olympic just ran out of steam and started getting frustrated,” he said.

McCrorie was “lights out on defense,” Brasher said.

A last minute tie

Earlier in the week, the Wolves recorded their second tie of the season against the 1A Port Townsend Redhawks (1-5-2 overall) on April 14 in a non-league match-up. Sequim fell behind in the first half 1-0 but both teams came to life in the second half.

Liam Harris scored his first of two goals at 55 minutes in with an assist from Eli Berg followed by a goal by Kyle Harrison from Will Bitner at 62 minutes. But the Redhawks recovered  with Connor Chisick scoring at 71 and 73 minutes and a 3-2 lead.

Patrick McCrorie threw in the ball for Harris to tie the game at 77 minutes but one minute later Payton Manning scored bringing it to 4-3. In the 79th minute Harris assisted Harrison with a free kick to tie it up at 4 apiece.

Brasher said the Redhawks play fast and aggressive and slide a lot to put pressure on opponents.

“As soon as they get (the ball), they kick it and run on it,” he said. “They were doing it really well and frustrating us.”

After Sequim went up 2-1, Brasher said the Wolves should have relaxed and focused on possession and let them chase and wear them out.

“But instead we tried hard to get that third goal and got caught flat-footed,” he said.

Regardless, Brasher said the boys continue to get better with passes and keeping possession of the ball

This week, the Wolves traveled to Kingston (5-1, 7-3) on Tuesday night and host Port Angeles (3-2, 6-3) on Friday.

Olympic League standings

(as of April 19)

Team Lg.            Over.

Kingston 5-1-0       7-3-0

North Kitsap 5-1-0       7-1-1

Sequim 4-2-0      5-3-2

Port Angeles 3-2-0      6-3-0

Bremerton 2-4-0      3-7-0

Olympic 1-5-0      3-7-0

North Mason 0-5-0      0-7-1