by MATTHEW NASH

Sequim Gazette

Despite a few more losses, the Lady Wolves soccer team (0-6, 2-7-1) showed they can kick it with the best of them.

Sequim had back-to-back road games last week on Oct. 6 in Bremerton (3-3 in league, 5-4-1 overall) and Oct. 7, at Olympic (5-1, 6-2-2) in Silverdale.

The first game didn’t go as planned as the Knights blanked the Wolves 3-0, but Sequim recovered the next night.

Olympic, tied for first in the Olympic League, came out on the offensive taking 10 shots in the first half and 15 in the second. In front of those 25 shots though was sophomore goalie Claire Henninger.

“It was really intense,” Henninger said. “It surprised them. They didn’t expect us to play as well.”

Henninger and the Wolves’ staunch defenders like Mattie Clark, Audrey Hughes, Claire Payne and Chloie Sparks forced an 0-0 end to regulation and two overtime periods.

The Wolves played most of the game on the defensive end, Henninger said.

“They had a lot of really nice shots but I was getting my hands there first,” she said.

Head coach Brittany Murdach said Henninger kept the Wolves in the game.

“(It was) an unbelievable performance,” Murdach said. “She was unstoppable.”

In overtime, Sequim was given a chance to win with the Wolves’ Clark, Adare McMinn and Nathalie Torres scoring on their penalty kicks but they lost 4-3 in kicks.

Murdach said the whole team contributed and gave 100 percent from the 1st minute to the 90th minute of play.

This was the team’s second overtime game decided on penalty kicks this season.

Last season, Henninger said she saved more penalty kicks than this year but keeps her outlook positive.

“When you think of the odds, it’s 10-1 the keeper is going to get them (penalty kicks) because they (opponents) are so close,” she said.

Playing goalie isn’t new for Henninger though. Last season, she took on the job after a fellow player suggested it due to Henninger playing goalie for Storm King soccer in seventh and eighth grades.

“I love being goalie,” she said. “I hadn’t decided if I wanted to commit to it or not to it this summer (because of knee issues). Now I love it.”

While the season has had its frustrations, Henninger said the team continues to surprise people.

“We tend to play up or down with the teams in our league,” she said. “Now, we’ve got to work on keeping it high.”

This week, the Wolves hosted Kingston on Oct. 13, and travel to Port Angeles on Oct. 15, and host North Mason on Saturday starting at 12:45 p.m.