PORT ANGELES — There are no moral victories in the standings, but the Port Angeles girls soccer team knows it can very much hold its own against an unbeaten North Kitsap squad.
North Kitsap, which has gone 64-18 over the past four seasons and won the Olympic League titles in 2022 and 2023, won 1-0 to improve to 6-0 on the season. And it took a fluke goal for the Vikings to score.
“We feel like we didn’t play our best game. But we also know we went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league and potentially one of the best teams in the state,” said coach Daniel Horton.
Horton said the loss did hurt a bit because the goal that the Roughriders gave up was a fluke. A defensive player collided with goalkeeper Kennedy Rognlien while she was going after a ball, allowing the ball to go right to a wide open North Kitsap player. Horton said Rognlien makes that play 99 percent of the time.
Port Angeles had a six shots on goal to North Kitsap’s five.
Horton said one thing the Riders will have to overcome is the mental challenge of getting past the powerful Vikings. He thinks they made strides there playing them so tough.
“There is a lot of good that will come out of that match,” he said. “North Kitsap has been at the top of the league for so long now. It’s never easy to get past the feeling of being an underdog.”
The Riders are still in good position in the standings at 3-2 in the Olympic League (5-2 overall), third behind Bainbridge and North Kitsap. Port Angeles next travels to Bremerton (2-3, 4-3) to play the Knights on Tuesday.
