The Orcas Viking boys soccer team had a rough beginning to their week, losing 2-0 at Providence Christian on Tuesday Oct. 7. Coach Matt Stolmeier remarked, “The team never quite got it together; we had some logistical issues finding the right pitch to play on and when we finally arrived, it was a sand field, which is not our usual playing surface. We just weren’t mentally prepared for that and it really affected our passing game.”

The Vikings fared better Saturday afternoon against the Lopez Lobos at Orcas. They beat the Lobos 7-1. Barrett North scored three goals for the Vikings and Coach Stolmeier said, “We had great team play and we passed the ball well. We controlled the ball far better than on Tuesday for a good portion of the game. It’s always great to play Lopez because the young people have grown up with one another. It’s a good sportsmanlike game since the players have been competing against one another almost all their lives.”

Fernando Arevalo, usually the Vikings’ goalie, took a turn playing out on the pitch and scored his first goal of the season. Arevalo had two great assists as well, one off a corner kick and another cross into the box. Cameron Smart took the position of reserve goal-keeper and served his team proud – no goals made it through his watch and he obtained great experience as goalie.

In scoring, Alex Waldron had one goal and Chris Ghazel scored another goal from a corner kick by Arevalo, heading in the ball for a goal in a great team play. Alex Zderic scored his first goal this season as well and wing/mid-fielder Sam Parish was very active in mid-field passing. He played a great supporting role by gaining possession and making runs down-pitch to feed the ball to his teammates.

The Orcas Boys soccer team plays at La Conner on Tuesday Oct. 14 and at Mt. Vernon Christian on Friday, Oct. 17. All games here on out for the Vikings are league games.