Opposites on the field, friends off of it, Pingel and Ward spark Timberline soccer team’s offense

Joanna Pingel is 5-foot-6. She likes the ball at her feet, and has a knack for dribbling around defenders to score.

Haylee Ward is half-a-foot shorter, and prefers to use her speed to blow past defenders from the wing.

Friends since middle school, the pair have paced Timberline High School soccer team’s offense, helping the Blazers to a 7-2-1 overall record in 2018. A 5-2-1 mark in Class 3A South Sound Conference play has them tied for second place with Peninsula, and behind undefeated Gig Harbor.

“They’re two completely different players,” said Timberline’s first-year girls soccer coach John Hayes, an alumnus who coached the Blazers boys from 1999 to 2012, and coached the girls at Rochester for nine years.

“Haylee’s small, but she’s very aggressive. She doesn’t give up on any ball. She’s a workhorse. She’ll sprint back and play defense, then turn around and get back to set Joanna up on offense.”

Ward is the distributor of the two, scoring eight goals this season, but also tallying 10 assists. Pingel takes on the primary scorer’s role, knocking in 14 goals, and for good reason.

“Joanna has a unique knack for finding ways to get goals,” Hayes said. “She’s scored off breaks, she’s scored off corner kicks, crosses, teammates missed shots.”

Pingel has speed, but as she started high school, she realized there were defenders she couldn’t simply outrun.

“I couldn’t go around them on the outside, so I worked on being able to get through defenses with the dribble,” she said. “I like to keep the ball a lot, but I trust Haylee with it.”

Ward says that’s a natural outgrowth of their soccer pasts and daily lives away from the field, where they have also played club soccer for TC United and Black Hills FC.

“We’ve played together a long time. We both strive to play at a high level,” Ward said. “And we’re friends off the field.”

The two spend time at each others houses, hanging out or watching movies. They’ve gone to birthday parties for the others little sister. This spring, their families will go on a combined vacation to Mexico.

Hayes credits two freshmen for fueling a defense that has shut out opponents four times this season, goalkeeper Abigail Pedro and right back Destinee Robertson.

“Destinee’s the fastest girl I’ve seen play in Thurston County,” he said. “She’s a freshman, but her speed makes up for any small mistakes she makes.”

Timberline’s place in the top half of the eight-team 3A SSC is not assured. Although the Blazers and Peninsula have those 5-2-1 records, just a point back in a tie for fourth are Central Kitsap and North Thurston at 5-3.

With road games this week at Capital and CK, Timberline coaches and players both believe the same area is where improvement is needed.

Despite the electricity Pingel and Ward provide and a strong midfield of Ashley Joubert, Sarah Lambert and Lindsey Crowe, the Blazers believe they haven’t been finishing as many goal-scoring opportunities as they should.

“We have to finish the easy ones, take care of the ball and control the pace of the game,” Hayes said.

Pingel would like to see her teammates vary their shots.

“Our issue is taking our dribbles too deep into the box,” she said. “We need to take a few shots from distance.”

Ward thinks added attention to detail, mentally and physically, will serve the Blazers well on the path to the postseason.

“At the end of the day it comes down to the mental game,” said Ward, whose off-field accolades include currently holding the vice presidency of the Capital Region of FBLA.

“Sometimes we get close and hit it right to the keeper, wide or over the top. We can think about our shots too much instead of just passing the ball into the corner of the net.”

As Timberline continues its improvement from last year’s 8-10 record, Ward gives much of the credit to Hayes, the Blazers’ third coach in three years.

“All three have strengths,” she said. “John has a good balance in coaching us. He can be friendly and joke around, but he can also get our attention when its time to be serious.”

This story was originally published October 9, 2018 at 10:29 AM.