The East Jefferson Rivals boys soccer team has hit a rough patch lately, losing 5-0 to Vashon Island High School in their most recent matchup Tuesday, March 29.

That result marks four losses in a row for the squad, moving their overall record to 2-4 on the year.

EJ Head Coach Robert Cantley was unhappy with the result, but wasn’t too surprised, considering the team’s growing list of injured players.

The biggest challenge for the Rivals so far has been “fitness, we’re out of shape,” Cantley said.

“We’ve got some guys [that are] missing through injury, guys are playing in the game with injuries. It was noticeable that the guys [with injuries] couldn’t run up and down the field.”

The Rivals and Pirates met up at Memorial Field Tuesday in Port Townsend for an evening game, with EJ hoping to snap their losing streak against the recent state champions.

Vashon immediately started taking control of possession and preventing any counter attacks from the Rivals. In the 10 opening minutes, Rivals keeper Haven McMillen stood out with multiple saves to keep EJ in the game.

The Rivals’ first real chance arrived after a wayward pass from a Pirates player was intercepted by the home team. Senior forward Lochlan Krupa and junior midfielder Isaac Gurney zig-zagged passes between each other to get to Vashon’s side, and Krupa took a shot on net that went wide right.

The Pirates retaliated with a breakaway chance on EJ’s goal. The first shot pinged off McMillen’s left-hand post, and Vashon took advantage of the loose ball to score the opening goal of the game with 25 minutes left in the half.

The Pirates rallied again to earn another decent shot on goal five minutes later, but McMillen performed a diving save for the stop.

McMillen continued making big saves for the Rivals until the Pirates scored again with two minutes left in the half.

The whistle blew with EJ down 2-0 at halftime.

After returning, EJ upped the pace to try to get back in the match. Freshman left back Simon Barlow dashed into Vashon’s penalty box and took a powerful shot, but the Pirates defenders deflected it away before their keeper needed to make a save.

Breaking past the Rivals’ midfield and defense, Vashon approached the goal and took a flawless shot from the right side, which grazed past McMillen’s right glove to slide into the net.

With the score at 3-0 with 30 minutes remaining in the game, a dejected EJ squad fought to keep the Pirates from plundering their net any further.

McMillen continued to complete spectacular saves in the game, but it was too little too late. Vashon tacked on two more goals before the final whistle to end with a 5-0 win over EJ.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game against Vashon; they’re technically the defending state champions from pre-COVID,” Cantley said after the game. “They’re a good team so we knew what to expect, but we’re just a little short-handed.”

The coach complimented McMillen for a top-notch performance on the night, regardless of the loss.

“He had a lot of work to do tonight and he certainly kept the scoreline a little bit more respectable, so we owe him a huge debt of gratitude. It’s going to be a tough loss when he graduates this year,” he said of his keeper. “We call him ‘savin’ Haven’ and he’s a pretty diligent goalkeeper; he works hard and he’s a tough kid.”

The primary bane to EJ’s performance was a lack of offensive success. The team was missing a few key players in the game and couldn’t find the spark to score on offense.

“One of our more experienced midfielders, [Mark Anderson], has been out with an injury. He could have played today, but I didn’t want to risk him,” Cantley explained. “He’s our midfield linchpin goalscorer. And also, losing Connor [Scanlon] to that red card so he’ll be back from his suspension.”

Much to the Rivals’ advantage, Spring Break for Chimacum and Port Townsend high schools will give the squad time to heal up and refresh for a week or so.

“We don’t have any games until April 12 with Spring Break coming up, so it’s gonna be good to just rest up and regroup,” Cantley said.

“We’re hoping to come back healthy and ready to go. And we’ll be playing Klahowya in our first game back, so hopefully we can get another win and get our confidence back.”