By Megan McKenna
The Peninsula College Women’s Soccer team is not just a team, but a family. “They go out for pancakes together at iHop; they take care of each other when one of them is sick,” head coach Kanyon Anderson said. For example, there are five to six players living in a house together; they go on hikes together and they always get along. They have a rule that the team comes first and that there is no one special player that stands out, the whole team stands out.
Since PC is in a small town, there is no wild social scene with the team. Each player on the team has to sign a contract ensuring no drama between players or any drama in the team at all. Most of the players come from all over the world except for one, Paxton Rodocker, who is from Port Angeles.
Paxton has been playing soccer since she was three; she was going to go to Walla Walla since PC didn’t have a soccer team when she was in high school. Coach Kanyon Anderson offered her a scholarship to play on the soccer team that just started up. Rodocker thinks the team has progressed since the beginning and that every game they play helps them know what to work on next.
On the subject of the men’s soccer game, she said that it was a good game and the guys had more of an edge than they had all year. Paxton is planning on going to Central Washington University and pursuing a teaching degree.
Kanyon Anderson tries to get every player on the field. They sub-out at least 19 times a game. Coach Kanyon takes players off the field that have scored a lot of goals to try and get every player on the field. The coaches rotate between three amazing goal keepers. According to Coach Kanyon Anderson the PC Women’s Soccer team is third in scoring the most goals.
There are four coaches involved with the team. Coach Kanyon Anderson, his wife, Amanda Anderson, Tim Tucker and his family, and assistant-coach Omar Anderson. Coach Kanyon Anderson started coaching in 1994 when he was a junior in high school; he coached a 5th grade girls’ team. A family friend got him into it and was supposed to help him, but he stopped showing up after the first week.
To help pay his way through college he coached the JV boys and girls soccer teams. Kanyon also coached basketball at a tiny B high school. His career basketball record is 1-11. Kanyon moved to Port Angeles in 2005, where he became the men’s assistant coach. In 2010 he took over the women’s program and this year he took over the men’s program as well.
Both the teams have the same motto: “Strength through unity.” This means the team is first and it’s not about just one player, but the whole team. Both teams get along well; they are all there for each other, all 60 of them,” said Kanyon Anderson. There is a relationship between the men’s and women’s soccer team. Captain Brooke Yoshimura says the motto means being there for everyone.
Team Captain Kameryn Barney says, “There is drama, but we know how to handle it.” Barney thinks the team has gotten better within recent weeks.
PC Women’s Soccer team is top in west division; Highland, the team they have to beat, is two points behind them, Highland being their rival means the game could be a blood bath.
Head coach Kanyon Anderson believes that the team has improved over the years, but the biggest challenge with it is that half of the team is incoming freshmen.
He said that it takes time for them to understand how college athletics work, how hard they have to work for it and how competitive playing time is.
Most players that come to play at PC are usually the best players where they come from originally; once they come here they have to climb the ladder all over again.
Anderson always tells them that it’s their season, not his. They set goals for themselves and they are pretty high. Both the teams want to win West Division and the Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
“My job is to keep them on track and remind them when they drift off track,” Coach Anderson said. He believes that if they play with their best potential, treat each other well and grow, then it will be a success.
According to Athletic Director Rick Ross, “The Pirates have the best defense in NWAC, giving up only one goal in 16 matches and recording a school record of 15 shut-outs.”
However, head coach Anderson said, “With this year’s group though, they will have to win a lot of games and bring home a few trophies at the end.”