Community Sports

Peninsula scores with seconds remaining to tie Gig Harbor

Two top-five ranked soccer powers collided again Tuesday night, Oct. 25, when Peninsula and Gig Harbor squared off at Roy Anderson Field. They were looking to settle their previous 2-2 tie in September.

They’ll have to wait a little longer. The two rivals tied again, this time 1-1, in a game that will long be remembered for its miraculous finish.

The teams finished the regular season as co-champions of the South Conference with identical 12-0-2 league records.

First-half lead for Gig Harbor

The stands were full on a 40-degree night with sideways rain. The packed house in that weather was a sign of respect for two soccer programs that have dominated this season, except when they played each other.

Gig Harbor (13-0-2, 12-0-2 South Sound Conference), ranked No. 2 in the WIAA’s RPI rankings, started the night out fast. The aggressive Tides’ pressure was constant and they forced a few corner kicks early.

The Tides were still upset after seeing their 2-0 lead evaporate in the earlier game between the two. The fifth-ranked Seahawks (13-1-2, 12-0-2) scored two late goals to tie that game 2-2.

Elise Miller, shown battling Peninsula midfielder Maya Rogers for the ball, scored Gig Harbor’s goal in a 1-1 tie with Peninsula on Tuesday. Bryce Carithers

The Tides were rewarded for their aggression. In the 28th minute, the ball was volleyed back and forth and fluttered into the sky about 15 yards from the net. It was spinning sideways and took a funny hop, as wet soccer balls often do.

Peninsula’s fine goalie Brooklyn Finch had a decision to make — either charge the ball or stay in goal and let a defender go after it. She charged, but Tides scoring machine Elise Miller beat her to the ball. Miller survived the collision and fired into the empty net for a 1-0 lead.

All-out hustle

Both teams displayed all-out hustle and desire, routinely sprinting for balls, tumbling to the turf and firing near misses on goal. Both goalies were on point.

The Tides got conservative in the first game, and it cost them, but not Tuesday. They played like they were the team that was behind and continued to stay aggressive.

Gig Harbor got excellent play from back defenders Sarah Ehler and Addy Seher. Ehler is a lock-down defender and it’s wise to get rid of the ball when she’s in the area or she will take it. Seher had an unbelievable sequence in the game’s 80th minute, when both teams began to substitute because of fatigue.

Seher sprinted between players to intercept a ball and raced down the field at full speed. She was upended on a legal slide tackle and smashed hard to the ground. She bounced up off the turf and sprinted 50 yards back to deflect a shot in an impressive display of speed and desire.

Peninsula’s Makena Getts and Gig Harbor’s Sarah Ehler leap for the ball. Bryce Carithers

Peninsula scores with 2 seconds left

Peninsula was getting the same type of effort from their athletes. Ella Coates stood out, winning 50-50 balls routinely with her quick feet and balance. Forward Makena Getts relentlessly pursued the ball with two defenders checking her all night. The Seahawk midfielders flew back and forth.

This contest was almost over, slipping into the nebulous period in soccer matches when the scoreboard clock stops at 2 minutes and only the referee truly knows how much time is left.

Peninsula was frantic, Gig Harbor was hopeful as the South Sound Conference title was on the line. You could hear the crowd trying to count down the time together.

A 90-minute soccer game has 5,400 seconds. An unbelievable 5,398 seconds had elapsed before Peninsula’s senior captain, Stella Demianiw, came up clutch.

Peninsula’s Stella Demianiw scored the tying goal with only 2 seconds remaining to assure Peninsula a share of the South Sound Conference championship with Gig Harbor. Bryce Carithers

Demianiw, the daughter of Peninsula coach Kim Demianiw, took a final pass from Getts and accurately headed a ball over goalie Jordan Flaherty and into the net. It was the game’s last touch, sending the Peninsula team and fans into hysterics and the Gig Harbor fans into denial.

After both teams settled, the head referee placed the ball down and when action resumed immediately blew his whistle.

Mother-daughter moment

“To be honest, when she’s on the field, she’s a player like all the other players,” Kim Demianiw said about Stella. “It wasn’t until we got home that we celebrated her goal as a family.”

Then she added, “playing against GH always has a lot of emotion. She’s been on the sidelines since she was 10 years old. She knows the rivalry and the league title makes it even better.”

“It was like a slow motion goal and once I realized it went in I was flooded with emotions,” Stella Demianiw said. “The team was working so hard, I could feel the goal coming.

“Being able to run directly to my mom after the game and giving her a huge hug and sharing that moment, was for sure a huge highlight of my senior season.”

Gig Harbor coach Katie Bennett said she was frustrated after leading for so long but they need to “be better at capitalizing on our opportunities.”

Playoffs ahead for both teams

The Tides still earned the league’s No. 1 playoff seed under tie-breaker rules.

“We did our work during the season, didn’t concede goals and had capitalized on the three-goal max rule,” Bennett said. “So we won on all tie-breakers.”

Her team suffered a tough loss earlier in the week when senior defender and captain Anne Seim suffered a season-ending injury against Union. Seim has an offer to play college soccer next year for Saint Mary’s of Minnesota.

Both teams advance to the playoffs.

Gig Harbor hosts Central Kitsap at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at Roy Anderson Field. The Tides beat the Cougars twice this year, both by scores of 1-0.

Peninsula opens at Mountain View at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29.

If both local teams win in the first round, they will meet for a third time in a must-see trilogy. That game will be for a state tournament berth. A winner would finally be determined in that game because the WIAA requires shootouts in all playoff games.

Seahawk Ella Coates is checked by the Tides Elizabeth Hayes during Tuesday’s 1-1 tie at Roy Anderson Field. Bryce Carithers