On April 16, Central Kitsap High School’s boys varsity soccer team played against Mt. Tahoma High School, resulting in a final score of 3-0 CK. After two back to back losses against Gig Harbor High School and Silas High School, this win puts CK back into playoff contention. Being at about the middle of the season, the team is preparing to confront familiar faces.
“This is the point where we start playing all these teams a second time,” Head Coach Patrick Leonard said. “So, in the initial part, we go watch them play games before we play against them. We study film, we break down film with the guys, and we try to prepare as best as we can. Now, we’ve already played [Mt. Tahoma High School], so our theme this season is ‘can we better our results against everybody the second time around.’”
The game started out with CK’s defense staying strong. Nearing the end of the first half, team captain Myles Peterson scored a goal with five minutes and two seconds remaining on the clock. As the crowd and teammates cheered, the team used the high energy to make consistent attacks on the goal.
“I feel like [it] opened the door to us going and just breaking down the wall. It felt like it just created opportunities from there,” Peterson said. “Just coming back from two losses, I feel like that’s hard. [We played] two great teams, Gig Harbor [and] Silas. It was hard, but I feel like this was just
a good stepping stone.”
With the momentum in CK’s favor, senior James Duncun scored a second goal during the extra time period of the first half. . Sophomore Jacob Smith made the third and final goal of the game during the second half with 26 minutes and 4 seconds left, bringing the score to 3-0. The consecutive goals display the team’s drive to improve from previous games.
“I think there was just a lot of motivation in the team to better ourselves the second half of the season, since those two losses ended off the first half,” Goalkeeper Tyler Adams said. “I think there was just a lot of high energy in the training, [and] focus on the second half of the season to really better ourselves.”
The training and bond of the team helped to curate an engaging game of powerful offense. After half a season, each player has been able to study players from other schools, but also those on their own team. Coordination was exhibited through the communication on the field and the resulted attacks and defenses.
“Honestly, I came into this season coming from a crappy team. From club [soccer], these guys are just so much better,” Adams said. “I think I needed to adjust my playing style a little bit, because I’d play a little bit slower pace, but these guys are really good, fast paced players, so I had to adjust and learn to play the same playing style as these guys, and we’ve adjusted. Now we’re doing better.”
The passion of the players and the physical work they put in during practices was presented during the game.. Each player’s eagerness to get better and intensity during matches has strengthened the team in their cohesion and skill.
“I feel like over the season, you can just ask any of the boys,” Peterson said. “It just feels like such a unit across all teams. I feel like it just comes from [coach] Pat starting it all, and the captains on each team. I feel like there’s just such a unity across all teams because it’s like we love each other and we want to fight for each other. I think for tonight, it was hard because, obviously after two defeats, it’s hard to rally back and want to really push, but I think it came down to just believing in ourselves and wanting it for ourselves.”
