By Quint Turner

The Edmonds-based North Sound SeaWolves snapped their three-game losing streak Friday night with a big win against the Victoria Highlanders.

After falling behind 2-0, the SeaWolves showed great resilience by managing to mount a comeback against goalkeeper Elliot Mitrou and the rest of the Highlanders.

Marshall Kosaka was the hero with his 67th minute header goal on a Brady Ballew corner kick. The corner kick was struck by Nasyir Rodriguez right at Mitrou, who made the save. The ball then rebounded in the air, and Kosaka got a header on it and pushed the ball towards the net from six feet away. Mitrou got a hand on the ball and made it look like he saved it, but the referees conferred with each other before deciding the ball went in.

Gareth Langdon and Ashley Burbeary had the two goals for the Highlanders while Abduwali Aman and Ballew had the other two goals for the SeaWolves. In his first game of the season, SeaWolves goalkeeper Elmer Rodriguez got the win in net.

The Highlanders had the first chance of the game in the fifth minute when Thomas Mallette juked a SeaWolf defender and took a shot from the top of the box that went over the net. The SeaWolves had a few chances of their own immediately after. In the 11th minute, Kosaka stole a pass between the Highlander defensemen and went on a breakaway near the 30-yard line. He got to the box, and took a shot that went high. Two minutes later, Kevin Cook went on a partial breakaway down the sidelines and got the ball to Aman at the top corner of the box. Aman hit a low cross to Kosaka, but his one-touch shot went wide of the net.

In the 17th minute, the SeaWolves got a huge opportunity when a clearance by Nasyir Rodriguez went between the legs of a defensemen and Aman picked up the ball. He was not even in the box when Mitrou came out of his goal crease to force an error. Though Mitrou came out of the box to stop Aman, Aman’s shot was a try between the legs of Mitrou that did not touch Mitrou’s arms, so there was no penalty.

The Highlanders got the first goal of the game in the 20th minute. Jared Stephens took the ball all the way to the corner of the field before sending a cross that was headed in by Langdon for a quick goal to put the Highlanders up 1-0. The Highlanders quickly went up 2-0 in the 33rd minute. On almost exactly the same play, Burbeary headed in a cross from the corner by Mallette. They were incredibly close to going up 3-0 when Stephens settled a through ball at the top of the box and hit a shot wide of the net.

That missed opportunity came back to bite them when the SeaWolves got their first goal of the game in the 39th minute. Kosaka came down the sideline before trying to cut in to the middle for a shot. The defender Kalem Scott tried to prevent him from getting a good chance by sliding in front of the ball, but as he went past, he knocked the ball with his hand while inside the box. A penalty kick was called, and Aman took it. He buried the shot in the lower right corner to make it a 2-1 game before halftime.

The SeaWolves started the second half with great pressure. In the 49th minute, Kosaka hit a cross to Quinton Beasley in the box, but Beasley’s shot was blocked out of bounds by a defender. On the corner kick after by Ballew, the ball was headed in on net by N. Rodriguez, but the defense got in the way.

The SeaWolves did tie the game up in the 54th minute though. The play started in the SeaWolves end when the defense cleared a cross by the Highlanders and the ball went right to Aman. Aman started taking it up the field with three other SeaWolves joining him as the four defenders tried to stand in his way. Aman kicked a short pass to Beasley, who then dribbled to the box before crossing a ball to Kosaka. Kosaka set up Ballew by dropping the ball back to him at the top of the box, and Ballew struck a perfect shot past Mirtrou into the right side of the net. That goal tied the score at 2, and the game could have gone either way from there.

The SeaWolves had two chances in the 65th minute to take the lead, and they capitalized on the second one. A low shot from the top of the box by Aman was deflected wide of the net by Mitrou, and that earned a corner kick. Ballew took the kick, and the initial shot was a one touch strike by N. Rodriguez that was saved by Mitrou. The ball popped into the air after the save, and Kosaka beat his defender to the ball in midair, and knocked the ball towards the net from six feet out. Mitrou got a hand on it, but the referees said it had crossed the line before Mitrou was able to hit the ball away, and the SeaWolves went up 3-2.

Victoria came right back in the 71st minute. Burbeary got the ball at the top of the box while facing away from the goal, turned around, and struck a shot that had to be saved by a diving E. Rodriguez.

Ten minutes later, Sasa Plavic had a chance to tie the game with a free kick 35 yards out. However, his kick was between a cross and a shot, and E. Rodriguez was able to catch the ball easily. After the clearance by the defense, Kosaka wanted to push up, as he started dribbling down the sidelines. A defender knocked the ball away from him and out of bounds off him. The throw in went the Highlanders way, and Kosaka was not happy about it. He got a yellow card for swearing at the referee after the play.

The Highlanders came back in the 85th minute when they earned their first corner kick of the match. Burbeary hit one into the box that was headed over the net by Plavic. Burbeary got another chance when the Highlanders got a free kick at the top corner of the box, and he hit a shot that was saved by E. Rodriguez. A rebound came out, but the defense was able to clear it away.

The Highlanders continued to pressure without any real shots on net for the next couple of minutes. In the 90th minute, Kosaka got his second yellow, and was sent off. He was going for a bouncing ball near the sidelines against defender Liam Davis, and the two hit the ball at the same time. However, Kosaka hit the ball with more force, and it appeared to injure Davis. After four minutes of stoppage time had elapsed, a last-ditch shot from 30 yards out by Langdon was the Highlanders last hope, but E. Rodriguez easily saved the shot, and the SeaWolves walked away with a 3-2 comeback victory.

The SeaWolves improve to 4-6 (12 points in the standing), and their next game is Monday at home versus the Timbers, at 7:30 p.m. With the loss, the Highlanders fall to 2-6-3, and their next game is at Kitsap on Sunday, at 5 p.m.

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a sophomore at Meadowdale High School.