The Peninsula College women’s soccer team has a nice mix of newcomers and returning players this year as the Pirates seek to return to the NWAC championship game.

The Pirates enter the season ranked No. 1 in a coaches’ preseason poll, though the vote was very close, with Peninsula at 98 points, Spokane at 97 and defending champion Columbia Basin at 91.

The Pirates are also ranked No. 4 in the nation while Columbia Basin is ranked No. 2.

The team went undefeated last year in regulation and overtime, going 16-0-3. Its one loss was in a 5-3 shootout in the NWAC semifinals to Spokane.

The Pirates graduated several very good players off that team — Briana-Jean Tanaka, Taya Bohenko and Caneel Corpuz, who combined to score 24 goals last year. They also graduated goalkeeper Talia Marini, who started for two years.

However, they do have 16 returning players, including their two top scorers from last year — Shawna Larson of Graham and Port Angeles’ own Anna Petty, who contributed 30 goals combined. Larson had 18 goals and eight assists last year and Petty contributed 12 goals and five assists.

Petty in particular was a real revelation for the Pirates, as she was a very solid all-league midfielder for the Roughriders but didn’t necessarily score a lot of goals at the high school level.

“She’s willing to do whatever is needed. Last year, we had a need for an additional goal-scorer and she said ‘I can do that’,” said head coach Kanyon Anderson.

Photo by Rick Ross/Peninsula College Athletics Peninsula College’s Anna Petty, center, dribbles between Columbia Basin’s Olivia Mendoza and Julissa Caceres during the Pirates’ 3-0 win over the Hawks at the NWAC Friendlies in Tukwila in mid-August.

Anderson said Petty will be moved back to the midfield, where she has always been effective controlling the ball.

Also returning is Gemma Rowland, who was an all-NWAC center back last year for the Pirates. Another returning player is Evee Stoddard on the back line. Anderson says Stoddard shows a lot of leadership and he expects her to be a team captain.

“She has been awesome, she’s been brilliant for us so far,” said Anderson.

Elliana Barden from Anderson’s hometown of Cheney is also a big offensive force.

“She scored some big goals for us last year,” Anderson said. Barden tallied seven goals.

A couple of other important returning players are defender Isis-Jade Bryant and forward Jaeda Mae Edayan.

Three players will vie to replace Marini in front of the net — sophomore Kylie Janke, who returns from last year and freshmen Alexandra Naill, another player from Graham, and Jordyn Labajo from Hawaii.

“Those three are in a tight competition,” Anderson said.

The team has a good mix of freshmen with 13 newcomers.

As far as players to watch, Anderson said Marlie Hamlut from Anchorage, Alaska will start on the outside back and that the Pirates feature two new international players who have impressed — forward Lauren Lases from the Netherlands and midfielder Shiori Shintaku from Osaka, Japan.

The North was actually pretty tough last year with Skagit Valley at 12-2-2 and 10-1-1 in the region and Bellevue at 9-3-4. Both of those teams are ranked in the preseason top six with Bellevue No. 5 and Skagit Valley No. 6.

Peninsula begins North play Sept. 11 at Skagit Valley for an early-season test on the road.

Early results

Back-to-back 3-0 victories at the season-opening NWAC Friendlies tournament this past week left Peninsula College women’s soccer coach impressed with the play of his sophomore-dominated squad.

The Pirates bounced defending NWAC-champion Columbia Basin 3-0 to open play on Aug. 20 and were again winners by a 3-0 tally over Lane on on Aug. 21, as sophomores Risa Nishida, Port Angeles product Anna Petty and Jaeda Mae Edayan all found the net.

Photo by Jay Cline/Peninsula College Shawna Larson (16), playing with a broken hand, gets off a shot in the NWAC semifinals in 2023.

“It was a great group effort defensively,” PC coach Kanyon Anderson said. “Anybody who came into the midfield was active and energetic. We ran seven players through our midfield, and we were so good getting to loose balls our back line didn’t have to clean up as much. So we had great pressure from our strikers and energy from our midfielders. It was good team defending from front to back.”

Anderson wasn’t sure if his team had yielded a shot against Lane.

“Lane is pretty good. It was a competitive, hard-fought game,” Anderson said. “We kept them to very, very few shots on goal, and when the stats come out, I wouldn’t be shocked if we didn’t allow a shot. To go 180 minutes and give up one shot is pretty good.”

Petty’s goal gave Peninsula a 2-0 lead at halftime.

“It was a pretty goal, a neat little ball over the top. Their goalkeeper came out, and Anna was able to lift it over her,” Anderson said.

Jordan Labajo and Kylie Janke combined in goal for the clean sheet.

“Biggest takeaway for me is we are deep and we have a lot of good players that can make an impact,” Anderson said. “It’s all about finding the right chemistry moving forward, and that’s my job to get busy looking at all of these good performances.”

Anderson said the team has been a delight to coach thus far.

“This group is really good to each other,” Anderson said. “They are a fun and energetic group, and they make it fun to go to practice every day. That kind of great vibe is vastly important over such a long season.”

A day earlier, the Pirates peppered the Columbia Basin goal with 11 shots on goal offensively and allowed just one shot on goal while on defense in the tidy victory. Peninsula also earned six corner kicks while conceding zero and had eight fouls to two, consistent with a high-energy performance.

Peninsula opened the scoring quickly as sophomore Desiree Dutra broke through and scored on an Evee Stoddard assist for a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the contest.

Shawna Larson was next to find the net for Peninsula, with a 31st-minute goal coming on an assist by freshman Shiori Shintaku for a 2-0 lead.

Freshman Lauren Lases added the third goal unassisted in the 66th.

Peninsula goalkeeper Alexandra Naill earned the clean sheet.

The Pirates were scheduled to host Multnomah University at Wally Sigmar Field on Aug. 27; results were unavailable at press time.