Soccer playoff berth still up for grabs

It has gotten to the point in the season where Narrows League soccer teams are starting to run out of games to play.

Some faster than others.

Central Kitsap, despite an inspired second-half performance that allowed the Cougars to come away with a 1-1 tie against rival Olympic on Tuesday night at Silverdale Stadium, the Cougars are going to need a lot of help to secure one of the league’s four playoff berths.

Through Oct. 18, South (8-0-2) and Gig Harbor (8-1-1) had wrapped up spots in the Narrows League playoffs, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 27 at Stadium Bowl in Tacoma.

Port Angeles (5-5-0, 15 points), Olympic (4-5-1, 13 points), North Kitsap (4-6-0, 12 points), and Central (3-6-2, 11 points) are locked in a battle for the third and fourth spots. A win is worth three points and a tie one.

Central, beaten 1-0 by league-leading South on Wednesday, has just one game left. It’s against winless Bremerton, so the Cougars, barring a major upset, will finish with 14 points.

Olympic, 3-1 losers at Port Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 18, has games left with North Kitsap (Monday) and Gig Harbor (Wednesday), both on the road.

Port Angeles has games with Gig Harbor (Monday) and North Kitsap (Wednesday).

North Kitsap,whch lost 2-1 to Gig Harobr on Thursday, Oct. 18, must play Olympic (Monday) and Port Angeles (Wednesday).

“I think the teams that have the best result against Gig Harbor will probably move one,” said Oly coach Steve Haggerty.

Central Kitsap coach Vicki Webb said, “We’re definitely going to need some help.”

Olympic 1, Central Kitsap 1 — CK’s Nicole Zygmontowicz controlled the ball after a missed header by an Olympic defender, spun around and drilled a low shot into the right corner of the net in the 62nd minute.

Olympic got its goal from Lindsay Neste in the 41st minute. Neste took a pass from Emily Tracy, dribbled by a defender and when Central goalie Emily Zygmontowicz charged at her, she let fly with a well-timed shot that hit the back of the net.

Tracy and Neste controlled most of the first half with their adept dribbling and passing skills, but the Trojans found themselves holding off the aggressive Cougars most of the second half.

Nicole Zygmontowicz took half of the Cougs’ 12 shots and her long throw-ins had the Trojans on the defensive in the final minutes.

“That throw-in is such a weapon,” Haggerty said. “She throws it 30 yards or more. It scares the heck out of you.”

Both goalies had their moments. Olympic’s Tiffany Jess rejected back-to-back howitzers in the 16th minute, stopping Zygmontowicz’s free kick and a followup by another Cougar.

Both sides reported that some words were exchanged out on the field.

“There’s no love lost between the schools,” said Webb.

“It’s a rivalry game,” Haggerty said. “You can hear the fans chipping in the stands, too.”

Olympic beat Central 2-1 in an earlier meeting.

South Kitsap 1, Central Kitsap 0 — Sarah Groves’ goal in the 19th minute stood up for the Wolves on Wednesday night at Silverdale Stadium. The Cougars, playing their second game in as many nights, were also a little short-handed, playing with just one sub in the first half and two in the second half.

“We kept pounding away, but couldn’t convert,” Webb said.

Klahowya 5, Sequim 0 — The Eagles (9-1-1 league, 10-2-1 overall) clinched at least a share of the Nisqually League title and goal-scoring machine Hilary Crisman found the back of the net three more times in addition to chipping in a couple of assists. The Eagles defeated Bremerton 3-0 Thursday, Oct. 18. Crisman now has 96 goals. Klahowya travels to Chimacum Tuesday n before entering postseason play.

CROSS COUNTRY

Narrows League Championships — The news coming out of the Narrows League Cross County Championships, at least as far as it pertained to runners from Central Kitsap and Olympic High, was fairly predictable.

Olympic’s Megan Walker-Richards had the best individual finish, placing sixth during Wednesday’s meet at Fort Steilacoom Park. The Central Kitsap girls, led by Kim Reiland’s seventh-place finish, and Olympic girls finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the team competition to earn spots at next Wednesday’s Class 4A West Central District meet at Tumwater Valley Golf & Country Club.

The boys teams from CK and Olympic failed to qualify for district — placing ninth and 10th. They needed to finish in the top eight. Olympic’s Dan Frederick, however, will return to district after placing 15th. He’ll be joined by teammate Ron Yeager (28th) and Central Kitsap’s duo of Aaron Nadeau (29th) and Alex Eddington (31st). The top 35 individuals qualified.

Frederick wasn’t that far off the pace in the tightly-packed boys’ race, covering the 3.1-mile course in 16:38. That was just 35 seconds back of individual champion Frank Prince Jr. of Port Angeles.

Bremerton sophomore Joe Miller finished seventh.

In the girls’ race, Bremerton’s Lin Kuhlman was fifth with a time of 19:26. Walker-Richards was just seven seconds back of Kuhlman and Reiland was another seven seconds back of Walker-Richards.

Olympia’s Jessica McLaughlin, third-place finisher at last year’s state cross country meet, was in a league of her own on Wednesday. Her winning time (18:03) was 45 seconds better than runnerup Erin Deasy of Gig Harbor.

Port Angeles (boys) and Bellarmine (girls) won the team titles. Top finishers at district advance to the Nov. 3 state meet in Pasco.

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