After a thrilling double-overtime win earlier in the week, Coupeville High School soccer coach Paul Mendes said his team “turned the corner.” Now they are heading up Victory Boulevard.

The resurgent Wolves upset first place South Whidbey 2-0 Thursday, April 8, at Mickey Clark Field.

Coupeville started the season by losing four of its first five matches, and all the losses were by a heart-wrenching single goal. Then the Wolves topped Lakewood, which Mendes called a “confidence booster.” They followed that with the overtime win over Cedarcrest, setting up the showdown with the rival Falcons.

South Whidbey (5-2, 5-3) came into the Coupeville match fresh off a 1-0 win over Archbishop Thomas Murphy Tuesday that vaulted them into first place.

Coupeville’s win over the Falcons lifted their league record to 4-3 and into third place in the tightly-bunched Cascade Conference standings. The Wolves are just one game out of first, but they are also just one game up on seventh-place Granite Falls.

South Whidbey and Coupeville battled 70 minutes before Ben Hayes scored off an assist by Travis Curtin. Four minutes later Nevin Miranda punched in the Wolves’ second goal to secure the win.

Coupeville goal keeper Evan Ameluxen-Coleman pitched his second straight shutout.

Mendes said Ameluxen-Coleman played a “real solid game.” He added that his entire defense “played really well.”

Mendes said improved defensive play by the Wolves has led Coupeville into its three-match win streak and is “producing good results.”

Against the Falcons, the Wolves had several good scoring opportunities in the first half, but “things didn’t go our way,” according to Mendes.

Mendes said his team played without injured Grayson Knott, and although he had to “move some guys around,” the team responded well to the changes in the big win over the Falcons.