Central Kitsap High School’s varsity girls’ soccer team took on North Thurston in their league home opener on September 7 with a 4-0 victory.
“This is our first league game,” said head coach Patrick Leonard. “With our student section and the game at home, I don’t think you can ask for a better start.”
With four seniors on the team, this is the youngest varsity team since before the current seniors entered their freshman year. CK’s starting 11 consisted of majority underclassmen and juniors, two of whom found scoring success in the first half.
The 7pm kickoff commenced the league opener which saw CK dominating possession, finding passing opportunities to lead to attempts on goal, and allowing the play to reach their defensive line less than five times and their goalkeeper, senior Rachael Remnet, twice.
After a sequence of intense offensive action in the 18-yard box, freshman Sonia Campbell’s shot on goal found the back of the net, putting CK on the scoreboard to begin their pathway to victory.
As well as the game’s first goal, this was Campbell’s first personal goal for CK. She shared a varsity debut alongside the three other freshmen – McKenzie Williams, Riley Jones, and Mailey Dayao. Leonard carries pride for the freshmen’s tenacity and excitement for the game.
“These freshmen are stepping in, taking the moment, and really just going with it,” Leonard said. “The team believes in them, so they’re buying in and executing it.”
To add another goal to the scoreboard “home” counter, junior Maya Prouse scored for the last goal of the first half. This is Prouse’s third season on varsity after making the team her freshman year in 2021.
Entering the second half with a 2-0 lead, CK switched keepers, substituting Remnet for junior Ava Secrest. Working to maintain their intensity, CK continued to upkeep the attack with play on their offensive side the majority of the second half to score another two goals by two of the four seniors on varsity.
Senior Savannah Fourier, who also competes in state-level track competitions, scored in an attack on North Thurston’s goal, ticking the score now to 3-0 in CK’s favor. Yana Mathew found success to score in the last goal of the game and bring the total and final score up to 4-0.
With cheers from both the team on the sidelines and the student section in the stadium, CK celebrated their first league game ending in a decisive victory.
“We got 19 girls who played good minutes with a clean sheet, not having conceded, with four goals from four different goal scorers,” emphasized Leonard. “The energy feels right.”
While the success of the play on the field is important and worth celebration to Leonard, the enthusiasm and joy of the environment is what he is proudest of.
“The girls on the bench are engaged, they’re jumping up and down, they’re cheering each other on,” he said. “I love it. It’s super exciting…The culture and environment for everybody to buy in and be all in like we showed tonight – that’s what I’m proud of and gets me excited for what’s to come.”
In terms of the on-field and visual aspects of the game, the team is looking to refine both tactical and technical play.
“There’s still details like little movements and moments where teams that are at the very top of the state level, which is where we want to get, we could have been in trouble if those moments were against them,” said Leonard. “But we played it out tonight and we got through it. It’s never perfect, right? If we can get those moments to the point where we feel comfortable throughout, it can just go up.”
Looking to the season ahead, Leonard is taking the balance and combination of competition and team culture seriously in efforts to make it to the top of the state level. The excitement for the upcoming matches comes from not only winning opportunities, but building the program up.
“We are building a program’s culture and environment, but we’re also trying to play attractive soccer that gets more numbers in the stands because the soccer is fun to watch,” expressed Leonard. “I want people to enjoy it and I want people to come out. Long term, I want us…to beat these teams that we couldn’t really get anything out of last season.”
With the development and augmentation of the program’s athletic success and social culture, Leonard aims to collectively create a program that allows and encourages all players to thrive.
“This program deserves to be in the state tournament and winning playoff games,” he said. “We haven’t been there for a little bit. It’s time to get back.”
