In their first home league game of the season, Central Kitsap Boys soccer took on Timberline, a team they split games with last year going 1-1 in matchups. In their first six games, CK Boys Soccer have reached their expectations for their season campaign for a league title and state tournament contention with a respectable 4-1-1 record.

The only team to beat CK this early into the season was their biggest competition in the South Sound Conference, the currently undefeated Gig Harbor. While CK didn’t get the win against Gig Harbor, they gave Gig Harbor the biggest fight they had even in defeat so far this season, giving hope for a better result in the rematch later in the season.

“That was a really good Gig Harbor team, we played well,” CK head coach Patrick Leonard said. “They just got one right at the end.”

The first half of the game would show some inconsistencies with the level of play the team wanted to play with against Timberline. While their defense was up to par in not letting Timberline score any goals, they felt they weren’t the ones controlling the game for their advantage.

“The negatives were low intensity in the first half, that was a big one,” sophomore and varsity player Josh Voce said.

The first half would end on a positive note as CK’s Jake Mckenzie scored his 10th goal of the season, the first goal of the game, getting the edge against Timberline in the end of the first half and surrounded with chants of “Jake the Snake” in the stands.

“Credit to the leaders within this team that spoke up,” Leonard said. “As coaches we were talking during halftime, as the players were talking to each other they were saying everything we were saying about being a little braver, playing a little more, not playing as flat, doing more to be the ones that are controlling the style of play of the game.” Leonard said.

CK’s Josh Voce scored the second and last goal of the game at the beginning of the second half at the 34:24 mark. The second half would continue to be better for the Cougars as they begin with a 2-0 advantage. CK’s offense for the most part controlled the game by taking more attempted shots than Timberline and winning more of the 50/50 moments than the first half.

“I would say the second half was a far more reflection of who we are,” Leonard said. “And what we did was we talked to halftime about the 50/50s, and the opportunities to not back down from them, and to be a little bit braver in the way we played. To be fair to the players, I thought the boys came out and executed it.”

CK defeated Timberline 2-0 to move to 4-1-1 and tied with the second best league record in the South Sound conference and only behind the 7-0 Gig Harbor Tides. Not only the team was happy about the win but happy to win their first home league game.

“Being on our home field for the first time is great,” junior Eduardo Ramos-Martinez said. “I mean, this is our home. This is the place where we want to destroy teams. This is the place where we just want to dominate every single one of them. So I think this is great.”

Six of CK Boys Soccer’s first eight games of the season are away games and away from their home field. The last four games for this team have been on the road and while the team went 3-1 in that span, they are surely glad to be back playing at CK.

“You know those bus rides kind of suck on the way back even when we win,” Voce said. “So yeah, it’s good to play at home.”

Despite the unusual high amount of away games in the beginning of the season, CK will host six of their last seven games of the season on their home field. This can be an advantage as CK continue to win and will have to play their best games on their home field when their biggest competition comes to play at CK.

“I think we’re putting ourselves in a position where Gig Harbor, Peninsula, and North Thurston have to come here and play against us,” Leonard said. “All these good talented programs have to come play us again, but they have to play us at home now. I think that’s going to be a big factor in how this can go for us. So I think we’re doing everything right, we just got to keep it going.”

After the home win against Timberline on March 30th, CK Boys soccer continued to dominate teams on the road in the first week in April with a astounding 13-0 victory against Yelm and 9-1 victory against Capital respectively.

CK Boys Soccer will now play their next four games at home at Cougar Field starting this week with Peninsula on April 11th and North Thurston on April 13th.