OLYMPIA — The Capital Cougars only needed one game of the 2026 season to set a record.
For the first time under fourth-year head coach Jeremy Richtmyre, the Cougars scored seven goals in a game, setting the net on fire in a 7-1 rout of Black Hills on a rainy Thursday night at Swarthout Field.
Junior forward Jaden Annan was responsible for three of those goals in a hat-trick performance, while senior forward/midfielder Tanner Fricke netted two goals of his own.
Records aren’t a goal for Capital but a byproduct of what Richtmyre believes was a transformative offseason for the veteran team. All but two of last season’s varsity players are back for a team that finished third in the Puget Sound League-Nisqually standings last spring.
“It’s the number of returning varsity players that we have and the chemistry between those players and the overall feeling and vibe that I’ve gotten from the boys from the beginning of tryouts to today,” Richtmyre said. “The leadership on the team is different. We have captains that want to lead, and we also have players that are willing to follow but are still willing to do the leadership stuff if they’re not the captain. It’s a dramatic difference.”
The Cougars came out firing on all cylinders against Black Hills. After a scoreless first 15 minutes, Fricke opened up the scoring with a goal in the 15th minute, and Annan tallied his first goal of the night four minutes later on a kick that smacked off the crossbar but managed to roll into the net upon landing on the turf.
Black Hills junior forward/midfielder Shinji Brown answered Capital’s early spurt with a goal of his own, rebounding a free kick and tucking it into the back of the net for his second goal of the young season.
Capital ripped the momentum right back less than a minute later as Fricke fired the ball toward the Wolves keeper and somehow slipped it past him as he was in position for a save. The goal marked the second of the night for Fricke and gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead at the halftime break.
The Cougars wasted no time punching the gas pedal in the second half, scoring three goals from the 43-minute mark to the 50-minute mark, including two more from Annan and one from Joshua Nguyen. Kellen Wood picked up assists on two of the three goals in Capital’s run.
Annan, Capital’s leading goal scorer from a season ago, said ball movement was the key to his and the team’s burst on offense.
“We were moving the ball wide and getting it into wide channels. They got the ball to me in wide channels a lot,” Annan said. “We had the chance to go one-on-one with the defenders. I think we did well moving the ball. First game of the season, I’m liking what I see so far.”
Nearly a half hour of game time passed before Capital put the finishing touches on the dominant win with a goal by junior forward John Roscoe Vroman with four minutes remaining. Capital scored three goals in the first half and four in the second for its best scoring output in at least five years.
“The boys have learned to trust each other a little bit more than they have in seasons past. They’re not trying to do it all by themselves,” Richtmyre said. “I think that has been the key so far early this season. We’ve seen it in practice as well. This is something to build on.”
Richtmyre knows the schedule grows tougher in the very near future against the likes of Tumwater, Olympia and Silas, but he’s confident that this kind of offensive display can be a trend and not an anomaly.
“We won 7-1, but there’s plenty to learn from this. There’s plenty of things that I already have in mind, and then we’re gonna go back and watch the film,” Richtmyre said. “But the camaraderie of the team makes me think that we can sustain this. The fight is strong with this group, which is really fun to see.”
Black Hills struggled throughout the first half to maintain control of the ball and keep the ball in Capital territory, but when the Wolves were aggressively looking for shots, especially in the second half, head coach Jackie Zvirzdys Wood liked what she saw.
“Capital dominated. They kept the ball. They are a great team. They have lots of great energy,” she said. “But every time that we were able to attack or win possession of the ball, I was actually really proud of our guys. It was really nice to see them be composed and not panic. It was nice to see them see a higher intensity and know that they can play at a quicker rate because we talk about that so much at practice.”
Black Hills (1-1) will visit River Ridge (0-1) at South Sound Stadium Monday, March 16. Capital is off to its first 1-0 start since 2023, when it also opened the season with a win over Black Hills at home. In that season, the Cougars only won one more game, but the 2026 squad knows that script won’t be repeated. They have their eyes set on the postseason, and their next test comes Saturday afternoon at home against a Tumwater team that qualified for the 2A state tournament and won the District 4 2A title last season.
“We’re looking much better this year. I think we can go all the way and win it all,” Annan said. “The ultimate goal is to beat everyone.”
