Victory often comes from those who seize the moment.

So it was for three Lady Falcon soccer players, none of whom played last year — Kylie DiMartini, Julia Iverson and Laurie Robinson.

South Whidbey began its 2007 season in style Sept. 11, beating Coupeville 3-0 on the strength of solid scoring, graceful assists and a couple of spectacular goalie saves.

The girls were jittery on the field at first but soon settled down and took command.

With last year’s leading scorer Grace Itaya sidelined from too few practices, Falcon coach Paul Arand was hoping others would step up.

They did.

With little more than 29 minutes left in the first half, DeMartini fired the ball into Coupeville’s goal on a selfless assist from Karissa Thomas.

A few minutes later, goalie Natasha Kamps reached out to her left to prevent an almost certain Wolf goal. Her predecessor, 2007 grad Amelia Cave, watched proudly from the sidelines, still wearing her Lady Falcon T-shirt.

Ten minutes later, Iverson slammed in another goal with a spiraling assist by Laura Barrow. Thomas scored as well but it was disallowed on an offsides call.

At the half, South Whidbey was up 2-0.

“Coupeville is improving but their problem remains not having enough skilled players signed up,” Arand said. “They were better than last year, though.”

The Wolves are a 1A team and Arand thinks playing at a higher level — all but Kings in the Cascade Conference are 2A teams — will pay off when they get into tournament play.

Unfortunately, forward Thomas suffered a knee injury forcing her off the field for a week.

“Karissa did a nice job helping other players,” Arand said.

In a way, Thomas is the victim and the team is the benefactor of the Law of Unintended Consequences; as her skills become better known, Thomas gets “swarmed” by the defense forcing her to pass the ball to her teammates for the shot. It isn’t a planned strategy; it just happens. Thomas’ unselfish play makes it fun to watch.

In the second period, defenders Lauren Sandri, Christine Johnson and Rachel Harris kept the Wolves away from the goal.

“Christine was very aggressive to the ball,” Arand commented. “She does seem more confident than last year. Rachel and Lauren did all they could but the ball stayed on Coupeville’s side. Which is where we want it to be.”

When the Wolves did enter Falcon territory, the team counted on Kamps and she didn’t disappoint, making several nice saves at the end much to assistant volunteer goalie coach Joel Gerlach’s satisfaction.

Finally, Laurie Robinson capped the win off a corner kick from Annie Doran that ricocheted past several defenders before going in.

Upcoming action

At 2 p.m. today, the girls welcome Friday Harbor to the upper soccer field at the Community Park, their regular digs being taken over by 1,000 cross country runners in town for the South Whidbey Invite.

The Falcons will have their hands full controlling midfielder Whitney Porter, last year’s 1A soccer and track star for the Wolverines.

Next week the team travels to Kings and Sultan, then welcomes Granite Falls on Sept. 25 at Waterman Field.

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or sports@southwhidbeyrecord.com.