by Declan O’Malley

Sounder contributor

Orcas Island High School soccer’s winning streak continues. Last week, it swept its competition in both matches.

The shutout and sweep mean OIHS is now ranked among the state’s top 10 schools for 2B/1B soccer. The Vikings came in at #8, while Lopez maintained the first rank.

The week started on Oct. 1 with a defining 6-0 road win against La Conner. Angelo Vaccarella led the Vikings with two goals, and Junior Conejo, Amaru Shanks, Joaqquin Shanks and Kevin Perez all netted goals in the match against the Braves.

“The Orcas players continued to work hard on developing their continuity as a team in their game against La Conner on Tuesday. La Conner fielded a stronger, more competitive team than in recent years. But with tough defense and an improved conversion rate on the opportunities that we created, Orcas was able to put up a dominant final score,” said Head Coach Terry Turner. “Among the game’s highlights was Orcas central defender Angelo Vaccarella getting forward on set plays to score two goals on headers. We awarded him the ‘Player of the Game’ for his performance.”

OIHS would follow up that win with another shutout 4-0 performance against inter-island rival Friday Harbor on Oct. 4. Conejo, Shanks, Kevin Ibarra and Forrest Frausto would all have four goals.

“In the game against Friday Harbor, the Orcas squad continued to develop and execute excellent ball movement tactics and finish opportunities to score. We also were able to establish a high press, which made it difficult for our opponents to connect a passing game early on,” Turner said.“The Friday Harbor soccer team is a very athletic and fit team, and strove to compete in every play and challenge till the end of the game. They created some good chances as the second half wore on, but thanks to tremendous goalkeeping by Tim Malo, all shots on goal were thwarted.

OIHS will host two home games this coming week: Grace Academy on Oct. 8th at 3 p.m. and Mount Vernon Christian on October 11, with a 3 p.m. kickoff.

OIHS cross-country ran in the Cedarcrest Twilight Invitational in Marysville on Oct. 5. Several OIHS runners set season and personal records.

In the 5000 meters, Max Peterson had a season record of 35:46.7, Hugh Kirk had a time of 27:42.9, Robin Limbach put up a 21:14.8 (personal record), Drew Nunez finished with a personal record of 21:03 and 21:50.2 was another personal record for Kenneth Farani. Finn Ontjes ran for a season record of 19:53.8.

Viking cross-country will run in the Northwest League Meet in Friday Harbor on Oct. 9.