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Peninsula Men's Soccer Wins Back-to-Back Titles with 3-0 Win Over Clark
Posted: Nov 18, 2024

Peninsula Men's Soccer Wins Back-to-Back Titles with 3-0 Win Over Clark

Box Score
Scoring Summary
1st - 21:51 - Nil Grau (N1 Peninsula)
1st - 33:06 - Ezrah Ochoa (N1 Peninsula)
2nd - 55:38 - Ezrah Ochoa (N1 Peninsula)
Game Leaders
W2 Clark
G: N/A
A: N/A
Sh: JP Warnell - 3
Sv: Jake Bilsborough - 4
N1 Peninsula
G: Ezrah Ochoa - 2
A: 2 Players (#10, #23) - 1
Sh: Nil Grau - 4
Sv: Laurin Lettow - 5
Team Stats
Full stats

TUKWILA, Wash. - Back-to-Back. 

The Peninsula Pirates men's soccer team won its second-straight NWAC title and seventh overall, defeating Clark 3-0 in the finals of the 2024 NWAC Men's Soccer Championship on Sunday night at Starfire Stadium.

The Pirates accomplished a feat that hadn't been done since 2013, when the same program won its second-straight title. Prior to that, the last team to win two in a row was Bellevue in 2001-02, showing the difficulty of repeating. Head coach Jake Hughes earned his third title as head coach of the Pirates, winning three of the past five championships. They only trail Skagit Valley (12) and Bellevue (10) all-time.

Peninsula's Ezrah Ochoa was named the NWAC Championship MVP. Ochoa had goals two and three in the game for the Pirates and also scored the lone goal in Peninsula's 1-0 win over Walla Walla in the semifinals. Ochoa scored his first goal off a beautiful arching corner kick by Edwin Diaz that Ochoa headered into the net in the 34th minute. He added to the team's lead in the second half in the 56th minute, rifling a shot past the keeper.

North Region MVP Nil Grau was big as he has been all season for the Pirates. Despite playing with an injury, Grau opened the scoring in the 22nd minute off a rebound from a blocked shot. He later assisted on Ochoa's second goal, delivering a perfect lead pass up the right side of the field.

Peninsula keeper Laurin Lettow had another cleansheet, making five saves. Lettow stifled a number of early chances by the Penguins that kept the score tied before his offense found its groove.

Clark was led by JP Warnell who had three shots. Keeper Jake Bilsborough made four saves. The Penguins finish an incredible season as co-West Region champions with an overall record of 15-2-2, making their first appearance in the championship game since 2013.

Earlier in the day, the men's All-Star Game was played. The South-West All-Stars earned a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the North-East All-Stars. After the North-East went up 2-0 on goals by Columbia Basin's Afredo Jimenez (assisted by teammate Alex Martinez) and Bellevue's Derek Johnson (assisted by Shoreline's Neb Kinfu), the South-West came roaring back with three goals in a row.The goal scorers were Highline's Adin Fakhri, Tacoma's Lance Nelson and Lane's Jacobo Contreas. Tacoma's Davyd Fedina and Chemeketa's Mikey Garcia earned assists.