TUKWILA — The Peninsula College soccer men have returned to the pinnacle of the NWAC.
The men beat Tacoma 3-1 in penalty kicks at the NWAC championship match Sunday.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie in regulation.
Peninsula scored a spectacular goal in the first half when a corner kick was headed by Nico Hernandez to Hide Inoue, who headed the ball off the crossbar. Chunghwan Lee got the rebound and headed it in for a goal in the 31st minute.
Peninsula was just minutes away from winning the game when Jesus Flores scored a goal for Tacoma in the 84th minute.
The two teams played a scoreless overtime and the match went to penalties.
Peninsula actually missed its first two penalty kicks from Inoue and Lee, but Tacoma also missed its first two penalty kicks.
Yuya Yamamoto, Mason Haubrich then made two penalty kicks, while Tacoma made one and missed one.
With the Pirates up 2-1, Edgar Tavares kicked the winning penalty kick to give the Pirates the championship.
It is Peninsula’s first title since 2015.
Much more will be posted online Monday and will be included in Tuesday’s Peninsula Daily News sports section.
Photo courtesy of Peninsula College The Pirates’ Chunghwan Lee heads in a goal in the first half against Tacoma in the NWAC championship match on Sunday. Peninsula and Tacoma ended up tied 1-1 and the championship match was decided in penalty kicks, which Peninsula won 3-1 (on goals by Yuya Yamamoto, Mason Haubrich and Edgar Tavares). It is Peninsula’s first men’s soccer title since 2015.
