The Pirates aren’t celebrating just yet, but a division crown and berth in the conference quarterfinals are well within their collective reach.
Peninsula took a step closer to those with a 7-0 home victory against Tacoma on Saturday, getting scores from six players.
Larkyn Nelson opened the scoring with the first of her two goals to help top-ranked Peninsula (12-0-0, 13-2-0) stay undefeated in conference play.
Bronte Fitzsimmons, Brooke Yoshimura, Gabriella Gonzalez, Alexandra Rojas-Ayala and Brenda Torres added scores for the Pirates.
Fitzsimmons had two assists, pushing her conference-leading total to 17.
Kasie Lough needed to make just one save for her fourth shutout of the season.
Topping LC and back on top
Edged out by Walla Walla in the NWAACC standings, Peninsula recaptured the conference’s No. 1 position last week — then proved it on the field.
The Pirates blanked Lower Columbia’s Red Devils in Longview on Oct. 16, 5-0.
Against the Red Devils, Peninsula got on the scoreboard in the first minute of the match when Alyssa Bertuleit scored off an assist from Fitzsimmons.
Bri Afoa, last season’s Player of the Year, added a score one minute later off a Bertuleit assist. Afoa made it 3-0 off a feed from Miranda Sochacki at the 20-minute mark.
The Pirates then put the match out of reach with second-half goals by Rojas-Ayala (penalty kick) and Mary Pierce. Kelsie Ng, who battled an injury for more than a year, assisted Pierce’s score.
Pirate keeper Laura Morgan recorded her second consecutive shutout.
Walla Walla ceded their top spot to P.C. after losing a match to Spokane, the NWAACC’s new No. 2 team.
Looking ahead
The Pirates look to claim the division crown (first round bye in the playoffs) as they take on Highline on the road today, Oct. 23, in Tukwila.
Peninsula is at Olympic (Bremerton) on Oct. 26 before closing the regular season with home matches against Bellevue on Oct. 30 and Lower Columbia on Nov. 2.
The NWAACC playoffs begin Nov. 6. With a division title, Peninsula receives a first round bye and hosts a second round game on Nov. 9, with the winner advancing to the Final Four on Nov 16.
