By Gerardo Bolong

Consistently aggressive offense and a stout defense that regularly kept its opponent on the threshold of scoring, but yielding only one goal propelled the Highline High School Pirates to a surprise 4-1 SPSL 2A North girls soccer win against Tyee at Valley Ridge Park on Thurs., Oct. 4. Highline improved to 4-4-1 League and 4-6-1 overall. Despite the loss, Tyee remained in a league second place at 7-2 while the overall record fell to 8-3. “This was a good performance,” said HHS head coach Luke Benedum. “More players were involved with the offense upfield and the wings were strong on the outside. The defense worked to keep them off the dribble with physical play and shut ‘me down. This was our best game on mixing combinations and one of our best games of the year.” Aggressive from the outset, the Pirates scored in the first minute when sophomore Abby Sagmoen collected a rebound and deposited the ball into net. This would mark the beginning of a highly successful afternoon for Sagmoen and her HHS teammates. By the 12th minute, the Totems began reciprocating in kind with ground passing and outside runs, Highline still showed good aggression, however. The Pirates were bodying strikers off the ball despite the efforts of Tyee player Tania Tapia-Cardenas in leading offensive thrusts. Yoanna Orellana led a strong Totem back line before forward Jordyn Gifford blasted a long range goal into net in the twelfth minute and the score was knotted at 1-1. Highline kept spreading the field to create meaningful attacks. Tyee tried to do the same as the squads remained deadlocked at halftime. With another quick start, the Pirates set sail to control the match. Tyee was unable to pressure the ball strongly, enabling Highline to sweep to the attack. A Pirate free kick hit the left crossbar allowing Sagmoen to knock in the rebound at the 48th minute. Continually staving off all Totem surges, Highline controlled the pace. Sagmoen scored again in minute 73 for the hat trick, but the best was still ahead for Sagmoen five minutes later when she matched her jersey No. 4 with her fourth goal. “It seemed like all my goals were from weird angles except one crossover goal,” said Sagmoen. “All were awkward. I think one even went off my knee.” From the defense, Orellana offered her view. “We pushed up hard and others would then keep it up,” she said. One factor that inhibited the Pirate effort was the loss of Tapia-Cardenas who suffered a concussion and could not play in the second half. “She’s an inspiration,” said Tyee head coach Paulo Mottola. “The girls aren’t used to playing without her. We tried different combos, but nothing worked well.” Give them (the Pirates) credit. They outplayed us.”