King’s High School has a talented soccer team, no question about it.
The Knights are quick, and they move and pass the ball well.
However, going up against a team like Coupeville that has a small number of players, no junior varsity program and is forced to use young kids on the varsity roster, a 6-0 loss to the Knights doesn’t matter all that much.
Coupville’s players have a never-give-in attitude and always hustle no matter what the score.
Despite the shutout loss Tuesday evening, coach Mike Thornton was upbeat about how his Wolf Pack team performed.
“We played a lot better against them this time than the first time we faced them,” he said. “The last time it was 11-0. We were down 4-0 at halftime in that game and then let things get away.”
Coupeville again trailed 4-0 at halftime but with 15 minutes remaining in the game, the score was still 4-0.
“We did some really good stuff,” Thornton said. “We played hard and created a lot of opportunities.”
Junior Megan Smith started in goal for the Wolves before being replaced in the second half by sophomore Joelle Anthony.
Anthony made several great saves on point-blank shots but had a couple of balls just trickle off her fingers and cross the goal line.
“It gets kind of scary when they are in close like that,” she said. “When those balls went off my gloves, I was like, ‘Oh, no. Don’t go in.’”
Thornton said overall he was pleased with how the team played.
“This was one of the first games we played start to finish,” he said. “We didn’t get down when they scored those early goals on us.”
Thornton praised the play of his defenders and his midfielders.
“The defense did a really great job today and the midfielders did really well holding on to the ball and playing it up front,” he said. “I thought it was a really good game overall and it’s starting to happen for us.”