by Declan O’Malley
Sounder contributor
Vikings’ soccer ended their regular season on a 15-match winning streak. In their last three matches, the Vikings held their opposition to two goals in the three fixtures while also scoring 15 goals to outscore their opponents 15-2.
The Vikings hosted the La Conner Braves on Oct. 29 and handed them a 6-1 loss in the fixture. Kevin Ibarra, Anthony Conejo, Joaquin Shanks-Morales, Angelo Vaccarella and another Brave’s own goal accounted for the goal scorers in the match.
In a stout defensive effort on the road in Lynnwood on Nov. 1, the Vikings held Cedar Park Christian-Lynnwood to just one goal while Ibarra scored two goals, and Shanks-Morales and Conejo tallied for one score a piece in the fixture to seal a 4-1 Viking win.
To close out the regular season, the Vikings traveled to Whidbey Island to take on the Coupeville High School Wolves on Nov. 2. The Vikes handed the Wolves a 5-0, shutout loss in the fixture to send the Vikings to a 15-1 regular season record.
In the match, Ibarra had another multi-point game, scoring two goals while Shanks-Morales kicked in two goals and Junior Conejo added a single goal in another solid offensive performance by the Vikings.
“After Friday’s game at Cedar Park Christian was a bit frazzled, and we’ve had a string of games where we weren’t playing to the level that we saw in our best performances; I was hoping that our last game of the regular season with Coupeville on Saturday would turn out the way it did. We can be very happy with our performance in that match, especially as we are heading to playoffs where staying calm, collected, and confident will be crucial to avoiding mistakes,” said assistant coach Sid Hayworth.
He added: “At Coupeville, we improved immensely in our depth and creativity in our runs and our passing was calm. Defensively, the man marking in our press saw a vast improvement. Our backline had some tough work to do to stop their forwards on some of the plays but we didn’t get too excited, and the decision-making was solid.”
The Vikings will play Nov. 5 at Anacortes High School (as the home team, but must be played on turf) at 2:30 p.m. for their opening post-season match.
After a great season, OIHS Cross-Country barely missed out on the State Championship event as the Vikings’ top runner, Tomasi Malo, came within 20 seconds of qualifying for state.
The team participated in the Tri-District Championships last week in Steilacoom Park. The competition in 2B was a big jump, with fewer spots available to advance to state.
