Daryl Gonyea claimed he couldn’t take credit for the win. His Sammamish boys soccer team, 1-0 in conference play, were being outplayed, out-hustled and outscored by the Bellevue Wolverines.

But trailing 1-0 at the half, Gonyea did his part; delivering what he called “just an early season half-time tongue lashing.”

Whatever it was, it worked.

Sammamish rallied for two goals in the second half and limited Bellevue’s offense as the Totems walked out of Bellevue High School with a 2-1 victory and an unblemished record in conference play.

“They played with a lot more spirit in the second half,” Gonyea said. “It was really just them deciding they wanted to play. I’d like to take a lot of credit for it, but it was just them.”

The Totems trailed early when senior midfielder Liam Kelly beat the Sammamish defense down the left side of the field and passed across the goal mouth to junior forward Race Sciabica, who one-timed the ball into the net for a sixth minute goal.

Kelly and Sciabica have all the Bellevue points this season.

“Sciabica was really causing havoc for us up front,” Gonyea said.

Bellevue sustained constant pressure on the Sammamish goal throughout the first half as goalkeeper Issac Velarde made several key saves on shots that could have had the Wolverines way ahead at the half.

But the second half was all Totems – sophomore Taylor Berg scored off a scrum in front of the net in the 44th minute and Nick Rooney scored the game-winner nine minutes later off another frantic rush in front of the Bellevue goal.

“They just decided that they wanted to score,” Gonyea said. “And that’s what it took in this game.”

Stuart Ellsworth played the second half of the game in net for the Totems and didn’t allow a goal to help preserve the 2-1 win.

“We’re set in goal,” Gonyea said of Ellsworth and Velarde. “We’ve got two of the best in the league. They’re really dominant and the cornerstone of our defense. We try to bend but not break, but if we do break, we’ve got a couple goalies.”

Sammamish improved to 3-1-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. With only five returning players from last year’s squad, Gonyea said the Totems are essentially playing this year with “last year’s JV team.”

“They’re learning on the fly and I think they took a big step tonight,” he said. “They realized the kind of effort you need to pull it out.”

Joel Willits can be reached at 425-453-5045