Bellingham, WA - The 2nd place Trojans entered Saturday's match with a two point advantage over the third place Orcas from Whatcom CC in the North Region Standings. A win would give the Trojans three points and extend the cushion out to five points over Whatcom, effectivly giving them a game and a half lead for second place. A loss would catapult Whatcom over Everett by a point, and move the Trojans down a spot in the standings. A tie would keep things the same, not the worst outcome for the Trojans, and that is exactly how things would play out.
In the previous meeting between these two teams it was Everett that struck first just moments into the game. This time, with Whatcom on their home field it would be the Orcas that got the first goal on the board, and they did so just inside the 13 minute mark of the game. Two good passes led to a Whatcom striker just onside of the Trojan back line, and she beat goalkeeper Alexius McKinney in a 1 on 1 situation.
Down a goal early the Trojans responded beautifully when they earned a corner kick. Olivia Lee took the kick and found Caitlynn Daniel for the equalizing goal. This was the third time this season that Lee has connected with Daniel off of a corner kick, the previous two times happened last Wednesday against Shoreline. For Lee it was her 8th assist on the season, which currently has her for 2nd most in the NWAC.
With the game tied, Whatcom responded with a continuous assault and by halftime outshot the Trojans 14 to 4. McKinney came up with 6 saves of the 7 shots that were on target, with her biggest coming in stoppage time at the end of the half where she collected a clean shot from a Whatcom forward.
The first half goals would prove to be the only ones of the game, as both defenses tightened up in the second half. Everett allowed 10 shots, but only 3 of which were on goal and the Orcas gave up 5 shots, only 2 forced the Whatcom keeper to record saves. Neither team registered a shot on goal in the final fifteen minutes of the game sealing the 1-1 tie.
The tie keeps the two point cushion over Whatcom in the standings and sets up a very important game this week against Skagit Valley College. The Cardinals of SVC are coming off of a 2-0 win over Shoreline and in desperate need of three points to climb back into playoff contention. Whatcom plays a struggling Shoreline team, so if Everett wishes to hold on to second place they will need a win to hang on to 2nd place.
Game time on Wednesday, October 9th is set for 1:30pm at Kasch Park.