PORT ORCHARD, WA—Port Orchard Football Club scored a 7-1 victory over Northern Peninsula FC (NPFC) in Port Townsend on Sunday July 16 to improve to 9-0-0 in the CPL2 regular season. Coach Pat Leonard hailed the effort and overall team performance.
‘Most Complete Performance’
“This was one of our most complete performances of the season,” Leonard said. “It felt like we were able to control the game throughout. To do that in a game where the opposition built it up as their big moment, calling it David vs Goliath, promising their fans victory and fireworks, it was just good to do our talking with our game. These players want to maintain our standards and keep the levels we ask of them for ninety minutes, I can’t ask for more than that.”
Facebook Gallery: Action Shots By Jesse MacKenzie
Facebook Gallery: Port Orchard Fans In Port Townsend
View a highlight reel of POFC goals from the match below.
Ready From The Starting Whistle
Connor Louden, Michael Divano and Kolby Juarez all scored before the match was even 15 minutes old. In the midfield Victor Cabanas controlled the action. In back Gil Navarro deilvered strong header after strong header.
Bringing The Buzz
The uneven surface and mismarked pitch lines of Jefferson County Memorial Athletic Field never became factors. Even a bee’s nest located feet from the visiting bench didn’t bother the POFC boys. They brought all the sting.
Gil Navarro dominated the back line for POFC with numerous headers.
In the second half Michael Divano scored his 18th goal of the season to make it 4-0. Northern Peninsula did some regrouping and had a spell where they got a goal back and looked like they wanted more. POFC refocused to deliver a knock out message.
Standing Up For His Players
Another match with a flurry of yellow cards was heating up when a late kick sent Louden to the ground right in front of Coach Leonard. Over the next few minutes the play completely stopped as officials talked with players and coaches on the sidelines. Eventually both head coaches also were shown yellow cards.
Watch a full match replay from DaveSPN in the video below.
The Ball Don’t Lie
Resumption of action brought immediate payback for POFC. Louden delivered a long ball into the box that Aidan Harvey jumped to head into the NPFC net. The largely Port Orchard crowd roared at the strike. The rout was on as the visitors added a penalty kick from Ben Wilkinson to make it 6-1 and a final punch in added time from Jake MacKenzie.
POFC Supporters Bring The Noise
The largest NPFC home crowd of the season was made so by a throng of Port Orchard supporters filling their stands. Chants of “P-O-F-C!” followed goals and were especially loud after the sideline skirmish.
Less Talk, More Goals
“I thought our players were fantastic on the day,” said Leonard. “Their coach and club wanted to talk a lot in the build up, so to see us in control and 3-0 up in the first 15 minutes was a nice response to all of their talk.”
“I think my favorite part of the result is to see so many goal scorers on the day. Seven goals is great, but for that to consist of six different goal scorers shows that we can find and take opportunities from a numbers of areas.”
Victor Cabanas showed he can dominate in midfield.
Working For An Unbeaten Regular Season
POFC improves to 9-0-0 in the Pacific Division of the CPL2. The final match of the regular season is Sunday July 23 in Tumwater against Thurston County. “Everyone is motivated going into this last regular season game on Sunday,” Coach Pat said. “We have an opportunity to build on this performance and go into the postseason sharp and ready. The last thing we would want to do is let up on our standards now. The players are highly motivated and we will be ready to go again on Sunday.”
Promotion Playoffs July 28 & 30 In Puyallup
Port Orchard FC will play the second place team in the Cascade Division (at the time of this article’s posting that would be Bellevue Athletic) on Friday July 28 in Puyallup. The winner of that match advances to the CPL2 Final on Sunday July 30. Stay tuned as the CPL reveals further details.
