POULSBO — The North Kitsap Vikings girls soccer team rained down a storm of goals from seven different players in a slippery 10-0 win over the Sequim Wolves Tuesday.
Three players — Siara Byers, Delanee Nilles and Jessica Sprague — scored twice in the match, while four others put it in the net for the first time this season.
“We certainly didn’t intend to run the score up,” Viking Head Coach Dee Taylor said. “We’re not trying to send a message. I respect Sequim’s athleticism. They’re very young, and they’re going to get better as they get older.”
While the Vikings may not have intended to send a message, their quality of play spoke loudly. The North Kitsap girls dribbled and passed circles around the less-experienced Sequim team all evening, and capitalized on their opponents’ mistakes and shortcomings.
With tough opponents like Kingston (Oct. 3) and Olympic High (Oct. 15) on the schedule though, Taylor said his team still has room for improvement.
“What we tried to do, but not very successfully, was work on crossing the ball and work on headers,” Taylor said.
The Vikings are also working on staying focused for the full run of each game, and not slackening their efforts regardless of the score.
“Our team goal is to play a full 80 minutes,” Byers said.
The Vikings did just that on Tuesday, scoring five goals per half and never breaking down on defense, despite late efforts by Sequim.
North Kitsap senior Alyssa Wilder opened the scoring 20 minutes into the contest when she followed a ball into the net off a corner kick. Within four minutes, the Vikings led 3-0 on goals from fellow seniors Byers and Lauryn Blevins.
Inside of 10 minutes to go in the half, Nilles took advantage of a generous cushion given to her by the Sequim defense and arced a shot over the reach of the goalkeeper from 20 yards out. Two minutes later, Byers repeated the same feat from the opposite side of the field.
The Vikings had found the Wolves’ soft spot and continued to exploit it. Early in the second half, Madi Taylor scored on a similar lob, and Sprague’s second goal, midway through the second half, came in the same fashion. Senior defender Georgia Suter wrapped up the scoring in the 69th minute.
“I think we just have a number of players that are really skilled with that shot,” Dee Taylor said of the lob. “It wasn’t anything unique to (Sequim). We look to take shots early to see what any keeper has.”
North Kitsap plays at Kingston High Saturday at 1:45 p.m.
