POULSBO —
On Monday against Lincoln at North Kitsap Stadium the Vikes played hard, but the forces were stacked against them. They had 18 shots on goal to Lincoln’s five. The NK kickers out-possessed Lincoln by five or six minutes the whole game, which is quite a bit of extra time to hold the ball, said head coach Chris May.
But sweat and effort aside, the Vikings couldn’t land the winning goal and the contest ended in a 1-1 tie.
“We outplayed the other team —
The Vikings sole goal came in the 14th minute of play. A combination of sound passing and solid play allowed Greg Ottelle to find the net with a little help from Jake Pedersen.
Although May said the Vikings didn’t get any luck, Lincoln did. Its game-tying goal, a corner kick, deflected off one of Lincoln’s players and then bounced off a North player. As the ball ricocheted here then there, NK’s goalie was caught up in the confusion and the ball found its way through the posts.
“It was a well-struck corner,” May said. “It was a deflect and the goalie lost his beat on the ball.”
May said the game was a frustration for North players because the team had just won three games in a row and scored five goals per game. And on Monday night the Vikings didn’t get multiple goals, despite having several opportunities to score the game-winning shot. North had a few shots hit the posts and a few more that went wide or high.
“We didn’t get that one shot that we needed,” May said. “We just weren’t clicking, unfortunately.”
Another agitation for the Vikings was Lincoln’s strategy, which May said was playing for the tie.
He said Lincoln didn’t try to push forward on offense or defense but focused on counter-attacking.
“They were just concentrating on keeping us out of their goal, which they did,” May said. “It worked for them.”
On Thursday the Vikings travel to South Kitsap. May said the game will be very tough, as South leads the league.
“They’re obviously a very good team so we’ll have to play well,” he said.
On Saturday the Vikings play Peninsula at Peninsula.
North has a 5-2-4 overall record and a 2-2-2 league record.
