Boys soccer:Braves edge Orcas in extra session

Game officials struggled with calls during much of La Conner High’s home soccer match against Orcas last week.

Braves head coach Steve Deleon had less trouble making right calls, however.

Two, in particular, were on target.

The first was starting Matt Semrau in goal. Semrau let nothing past him, forcing a best-of-five shootout round after regulation play and two overtime periods ended in a scoreless deadlock.

The second of Deleon’s spot-on calls was shifting senior Erick Reinstra to the net for the shootout.

Reinstra responded with a pair of diving saves, and La Conner escaped with a key NW2B win when the Braves edged Orcas 4-3 in the final stanza.

Mitch Grant, Dain Sicklesteel, John Edson, and Scott Gregory each scored for La Conner in the decisive frame.

Orcas goals by Wylie Kau, Zach Waage, and Javier Orantes weren’t enough to offset the two Reinstra shootout stops.

With the triumph, La Conner won for the second straight time and improved to 5-8 entering this week’s action, with two league road matches on tap.

The Braves were scheduled at Grace Academy on Monday.

La Conner sails to Lopez Island today, Wednesday, in the regular season finale for both clubs, an early 2:15 p.m. matinee start.

The La Conner-Orcas match was a back-and-forth affair from the get-go, with plenty of action despite the lack of scoring.

Taylor Ebersole, one of seven La Conner seniors appearing in his final regular season home match, nearly got the Braves on the board early in the opening period with a strong upfield drive. But his shot was kicked away by Orcas defender Henry McMurray just in front of the net.

The Vikings answered with a shot attempt by Steven Bodenhamer that narrowly missed.

McMurray later appeared in position to attack the goal, but La Conner’s Mitch Grant came out of nowhere to stop McMurray’s advance with a well-timed slide and kick that sent the ball back downfield.

Preston Stewart and Cole Smith of La Conner each had strong shot attempts in the first half that carried just over the goal.

Semrau, meanwhile, denied Bodenhamer with a save on a short-range shot.

That’s the way much of the match went, a rhythmic ebb-and-flow, indicative of a fairly equal pairing.

La Conner’s best opportunity before the break came on a Reinstra penalty kick caught by the Viking goalie.

As time wound down in the second half, play turned physical. Orcas sophomore Jose Erazo drew a yellow card for pushing down Edson with the ball clearly out of bounds, a play drawing a brief but heated response from Reinstra.

Stewart and Wilson Crawford likewise picked up penalties for La Conner, both calls deemed questionable by Braves’ fans.

The ultimate match winner remained in question, as well, even after a pair of five-minute overtimes. That made necessary the tense, one-on-one shootout format.

Kau and Grant matched goals at the outset, then La Conner gained the edge when Reinstra recorded the first of his two saves and Sicklesteel followed with a goal, putting the Braves in front 2-1.

With La Conner leading 3-2, after the second Reinstra save and an Edson score, Gregory clinched matters with his goal since Orcas had just one shot attempt remaining.

In a related note:

• La Conner seniors Smith, Grant, Crawford, Reinstra, Gregory, Ebersole, and Jordan Holt served as team captains for the match.