Will O’Neil’s third hat trick in as many games wasn’t enough to keep the Vashon boys soccer team in second place in the Nisqually League. Orting’s Dylan Utley had a hat trick of his own after Adrian Cruz opened the scoring.

The Pirates lost 4-3 in overtime to the Orting Cardinals. The Cardinals claimed second place and play league champs Charles Wright at 3 p.m. Saturday for first and second seed to the Bi-District Tournament. Vashon plays the winner of Thursday’s Port Townsend v Cascade Christian game for the third seed. The game is at 1 p.m. at Orting.

O’Neil led the Pirates to come back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to tie 3-3 in regular time. The game remained tied until Utley scored with just seconds more than a minute left in overtime.

The Vashon JV ended their season with a 3-0 win over the Orting JV.

The Pirate fastpitch softball team defeated Life Christian 11-7 yesterday.

Congratulations ladies!

It’s off to Life Christian today to try to make it two in a row, then back home for a non-league game with Steilacoom JV on Friday. Wouldn’t it be great to give these girls a big crowd for their last game?

Other sports:

Baseball plays Charles Wright today in a pigtail game for fourth place and a playoff spot. The game is 4 p.m. at UPS.

Boys soccer plays at Orting today for second and third in the Nisqually League. They tied in their first meeting and are tied in the standings. Varsity game is 6 p.m., JV at 4 p.m. It’s the final game for the JV.

Regardless of the result of today’s game both Orting and Vashon play again Saturday, winner v Charles Wright, loser v Port Townsend/Cascade Christian winner. Games are 1 and 3 p.m. at Orting.

Vashon sophomore Sam Crosby battles a Cougar for the ball during the JV game.

Will O’Neil’s second hat trick in as many games gave the Pirate soccer team a 3-1 win over Cascade Christian and kept them tied with Orting for second place in the Nisqually League.

On Senior Night, the last home game for Vashon’s seniors and exchange student Alessandro Rossi, the Pirates took charge early over the Cougar team they had tied earlier. In the fourth minute, O’Neil took a feed from Nick Fox-Edele near the end line on the left side and sent the ball across and into the far corner of the net.

The second goal came in the 12th minute with Geran Webb providing the assist to O’Neil.

The Cougar’s Brus Layson snuck in a goal for the visitors in the 46th minute.

O’Neil sealed the game for Vashon in the 68th minute with Fox-Edele getting his second assist of the evening.

The Pirate JV sort of made up for two earlier losses at Cascade Christian with a 3-2 win over the Cougar JV. Cougar Yeongi Nam scored in the 13th minute for a 1-0 Cascade halftime lead. Sam Crosby evened it up in the 43rd minute with an assist from Ezra Koenig. Brian Nam answered immediately for the visitors with the assist going to Cheol Han.

Koenig evened it up again in the 54th minute on an assist from Andy Hennesey then got the game winner with a sliding shot in the final minute.

Pirate senior Josh Bacchus says he is talking to Mom during warmups.

Pirate junior Jackson McFall clears the ball upfield in the first half at Life Christian.

After a frustrating first half on Tuesday and a scare from lowly Life Christian early in the second half the VHS boys soccer team came back for a convincing 3-0 win at the Eagles’ home turf and assure themselves of a playoff spot.

Will O’Neil ignored the drenching rain and the wind to explode for a hat trick after being moved from defense to forward.

The Pirates dominated the first half but couldn’t get a shot that didn’t go directly to the Eagles’ sure-handed keeper. Life Christian opened the second half with a furious attack that saw several shots, including one that skipped across the top bar and, fortunately for the Pirates, bounced up and out of play.

O’Neil received a yellow card for a late tackle near the end of the first half and sat out the final few minutes of the half and the early part of the second half. When he returned to the game, coach Paul Beytebiere moved him to striker where O’Neil immediately took control.

In the 64th minute O’Neil waited just behind the last Eagle defender until Elias Weston released a pass then beat the keeper for his first goal.

Less than a minute later O’Neil stole the ball and threaded his way through the Eagle defense for goal number two.

The referee added several minutes of stoppage time for injuries on both teams and some discussions with Life Christian’s players and it was in the 87th minute by sideline watches that O’Neil took a short cross from Nick Fox for the final goal.

The Pirates can finish no lower than fourth in the 1A Nisqually League and wins tonight over Cascade Christian and next Tuesday at Orting could put them in second place. Charles Wright, undefeated in league, has first place locked up.

Tylor Heit controls as a Tarrier challenges.

SOCCER:

After Monday’s non-league win the Vashon soccer boys scored three second-half goals to beat Chimacum on the Cowboys’ home field Tuesday. Nick Gass scored on a free kick. Nick Fox got number two on Ezra Koenig’s assist and Jesse Turner finished with an unassisted goal. The Pirates’ rivals for a playoff spot, Cascade Christian and Orting played to a scoreless tie. Vashon hosts Cascade Christian Thursday and finishes the regular season at Orting Tuesday, May 4.

League-leading Charles Wright beat the Pirates 3-0 at Vashon on Thursday.

This Tuesday Vashon plays at Life Christian.

Will O'Neil goes airborne to clear a Charles Wright attacking ball.

FAST PITCH:

Pirate fast pitch softball scored two runs in their first game last week then led after four innings in their second game. But the wheels came off in the fifth and sixth innings and the Pirates ended on the short end of an 18-8 score. The Pirate girls are improving weekly despite barely being able to field a full team.

TRACK:

Samantha Clements jumped beyond 14 feet to win the long jump for the second time this season in Thursday’s meet at Charles Wright. Looks like all the extra practice is paying off for the Pirate freshman.

After two ties the week after Spring Break the Pirate boys soccer team started this week with a 3-2 win over visiting Mt. Tahoma.

The Pirates tied at Cascade Christian and at home with Orting last week. Vashon dominated in both games but couldn’t finish and had to settle for ties after 10 minutes of scoreless overtime in both games.

Vashon keeper Robert McGinnis made a spectacular stop of a penalty kick in the second minute at Cascade Christian, but the only player not frozen by the amazing play was Cougar Kyle Sadler who put the rebound in the back of the net before McGinnis could recover or any Pirates reacted. Nick Fox got the equalizer in the 29th minute on a cross from Lucian Pizzano.

Robert McGinnis stops a Cascade Christian penalty kick

Orting scored first in Thursday’s home game and kept the lead into half time. The Pirates came out of the locker fired up and in the 46th minute Fox scored with the assist going to Elias Weston.

Yesterday the Pirates hosted Mt. Tahoma in a non-league game. Vashon established control early when Nick Gass scored in the ninth minute on a pass from Fox. David Salonen added another goal in the 39th minute, getting the assist from Pizzano.

Julian Jones put the visitors back in the game with an unassisted goal in the 58th minute, then evened the score in the 72nd minute when he stole a pass from a Pirate defender.

Just when it looked like the Pirates might have to settle for another tie Will O’Neil collided heads with a Tahoma defender right in front of the net and got the ball to Jackson McFall who touched it on to Fox who put it in the net for the game-winner.

Jesse Hazzard goes one-v-one with a Mt. Tahoma player.

Mt. Tahoma found themselves unable to field a JV team at the last minute so the Pirate JV played a full intra-squad Green v White scrimmage. Between them the JV players scored 11 goals in the scrimmage.

A wet and windy week before Spring Break, but a few matches got played.

Boys varsity soccer played their best game of the season so far but lost 1-0 to Seattle Prep, a 2009 State 3A quarterfinalist.

The JV had two games and stayed almost even with their opponents until the final few minutes. Seattle Prep JV 4, Vashon JV 0. It was 1-0 at the half and stayed that way until the last few minutes. The Panthers scored their last two goals in stoppage time.

Cascade Christian JV 3, Vashon JV 1. Vashon’s goal came when Sjors Steneker beat the CC goalkeeper from the right side. A Cougar defender deflected the ball of the line but Walker Merchant came in from the left to put the ball in the net.

Girls tennis beat Steilacoom 4-1.

Track teams were both third in their four-way meets. Both boys and girls won the 4×100-meter relays. For the Pirate girls, Savannah Krug won the 1600, Kate Straube won the 100 hurdles and Samantha Clements won the long jump.

Baseball got rained out at Cascade Christian Wednesday and hosted Chief Sealth on Thursday. I haven’t seen a final score so don’t know if they were able to get a complete game in between the raindrops.

Andy Hennesey, 25, beats a Seattle Prep player in Tuesday's JV soccer game.

Elias Weston beats a Seattle Prep player in the varsity soccer game.

Josh Bacchus, green uniform, challenges a Cascade Christian player in Wednesday's JV soccer game.

Lose in the sunshine, win in the rain was the theme song for the Pirate boys soccer team this week.

On Tuesday Vashon lost to Charles Wright 5-1 in almost perfect playing weather on the Tarriers  beautifully groomed grass field.

Nick Gass came out of a crowd of CWA defenders for Vashon’s only goal in the second half, but the game was already out of reach.

Pirate goalkeeper Robert McGinnis makes a save against Charles Wright.

Yesterday Vashon beat Life Christian 2-0 in a downpour on the Pirates muddy pitch.

Will O’Neil put the Pirates ahead in the 13th minute with a free kick from just outside the penalty box. Tylor Heit sealed the win in the 73rd minute when he took a perfect cross from Nick Gass and beat the Eagle goalkeeper one-on-one.

The game saw a Life Christian player yellow-carded early in the game for pushing a Pirate defender from behind after getting beaten to the ball.

The same Eagle player received a second yellow in the second half and was ejected when he jumped up after being fouled and again pushed a Vashon defender while the ball was out of play.

Pirate goalkeeper Robert McGinnis and the Vashon defense overcame the slippery ball and muddy footing for the shutout, McGinnis’ second of the season.

I hope the weather at Steilacoom was better for yesterday’s track meet. Both Pirate boys and girls teams finished fourth in the four-way meet despite firsts from boys James Spencer and Landon Summers and girl Pirate Peri Roberts.

Roberts won the 3200-meter run in 14 minutes, 34 seconds.

For the second straight week Spencer won the 400, this week’s time was :53.1; and Summers won the 100 hurdles in :17.7. Last week Summers won the 300 hurdles.

The sun was out and the Vashon boys soccer team was ready for the game at Eatonville yesterday. The Pirates carried the momentum from the home win Thursday on to a 4-1 win over the Cruisers.

The Pirates took the game to the Cruisers from the opening whistle. The aggressiveness paid off when Jackson McFall was tripped in the penalty box and calmly converted the penalty kick into a 1-0 lead 13 minutes in.

Eatonville tied things up when the uneven grass surface contributed to a Pirate defender missing a tackle, leaving the Cruiser striker free to chip the ball over the keeper to tie the game.

Pirate keeper Robert McGinnis punches away a Cruiser shot on goal.

Elias Weston put the Pirates ahead for good in the 35th minute. Taking a long feed from Will O’Neil, Weston, from the left side, curved the ball around the Cruiser keeper into the net.

Before the hosts could get settled in the second half Nick Gass put the ball into open space and in a perfectly timed run Nick Fox-Edele sprinted past the last defender to put the ball into the net and give Vashon a 3-1 lead less than a minute in to the half.

Pirate goalkeeper Robert McGinnis got a rare assist in the 73rd minute when he boomed a goal kick to Fox-Edele, who again beat all the Cruiser defenders for the final goal.

Vashon had only nine regular varsity players available for the non-league contest and all the JV and swing players on the trip got substantial playing time and impressed head coach Paul Beytebiere.

Tuesday the Pirates face a big test when they travel to Charles Wright for the first of two games with the arch-rival Tarriers.

Coach Beytebiere gets serious at half time.

It looked like Spring but it didn’t feel like it yesterday while the Pirate boys soccer team was beating Chimacum 2-0.

The sun was out but the north wind felt just like winter, which the calendar said it still was for another day.

Elias Weston challenges a Chimacum defender.

But for the Cowboys’ goalkeeper Vashon could have won by five goals. The Chimacum keeper was fearless as he went one-on-one with everything the Pirates could muster.

Vashon’s scoring was almost perfectly balanced, a penalty shot by Nick Gass in the seventh minute and a beautiful shot by Michael Butz with just under seven minutes to play in the second half.

Gass was tripped from behind in the penalty box as he was about to shoot. He put the PK in the back of the net for what eventually proved to be the winning goal.

Seventy-three minutes is a long time to hold off a team that had won their first game a few days earlier, but the Pirate defense was up to the task.

In the dangerous final few minutes when a fluke goal could tie up a game Butz gave Vashon the insurance goal it needed. Coming out of a swarm of Cowboys just outside the 18-yard box, Butz unleashed a low hard shot from almost dead center a yard out from the penalty spot.

The win was the Pirates’ first and, more important, their first Nisqually League game. Today the varsity team goes to Eatonville for a non-league game.

Neither Chimacum nor Eatonville has enough players eligible for a JV game this week.

If it was cold at Vashon, the Pirate track teams must have experienced near-arctic weather at Eatonville yesterday. Both boys and girls finished third to Orting and host Eatonville, with Life Christian fourth.

Kate Straube won the 100-meter hurdles for the girls, the only Pirate first place.

On the boys side James Spencer won the 400, Aidan Cyra the 800, Colin Andrus the 1600 and Jack Summers the 300 hurdles.