Micky LeVine scored in the second half to help the Coupeville High School varsity soccer team tie the Oak Harbor junior varsity 1-1 at foggy Wildcat Memorial Stadium Tuesday, Oct. 7.
The contest was scheduled at the last minute to help the Wolves pick up another match. Last week Lynnwood cancelled their junior varsity game with Oak Harbor, opening a spot for Coupeville.
Oak Harbor coach Mike Lonborg, a friend of Wolves’ coach Troy Cowan, knew Coupeville didn’t have a full slate of games, so he contacted Cowan. Coupeville plugged the game into a hole in their schedule; it hadn’t played since Sept. 30 and meets Crosspoint Academy at noon Saturday, Oct. 11, in the final non-conference match.
Oak Harbor JV coach Brian Thompson called it “a fun game because all of these girls know each other.”
Coupeville (3-2-1) opens Olympic League play at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, when Chimacum (0-5) visits.
In Tuessday’s match, the Wildcats’ Courtney Coker scored with 9:36 left in the first half. LeVine countered, off an assist from Erin Rosenkranz, to earn the tie.
Oak Harbor created other scoring chances, Thompson said, including several near misses and a shot off the post, but the Coupeville defense held.
“Girls played hard, just struggled with our first touch and controlling the ball,” Cowan said. “High energy and effort, but we were starting a new defensive lineup due to the injury to Jennifer Sparks and had some kinks to work out. Overall, great day’s work.”
Cowan called the play of Marissa Etzell, Sage Renninger and Mia Littlejohn “exceptional.”
He also like the effort of Ivy Luvera, who took over for the injured Spark: “She made a few mistakes, but overall she seemed to grasp her new duties and was solid controlling their runs and starting several counter attacks. I have the utmost confidence in Ivy; she is an extremely intelligent and athletic player that simply refuses to quit.”