Marysville spoils Oak Harbor soccer finale

Winning its last three games after losing 10 of the first 12, the Oak Harbor soccer team entered its final contest Thursday night on an emotional high.

The playoffs were out of the picture, but one win over Marysville-Pilchuck would provide the Wildcats a satisfying four wins over their final four games.

A win wasn’t in the cards, however, as a handful of first-half mistakes led to a 5-0 defeat.

“Our touch was completely off in the first half,” OHHS head coach Gretchen Hanson said. “We put something right back into Marysville’s foot.”

In a span of 17 minutes the Tomahawks scored five goals — all on defensive mistakes.

The first came in the 19th minute on a corner kick that went off the hands of goalkeeper Kelli Roberts. The ball deflected to the foot of Jessica Lauer, who tapped it in for an easy goal.

Less than 10 minutes later Lauer scored another goal on almost the exact same play off a corner kick.

MPHS forward Tess Williams tacked on the next two goals in the 32nd and 34th minutes after getting behind the Oak Harbor defense for one-on-one situations.

Lauer completed the hat trick only two minutes later on another deflected ball in front of the net.

The Wildcats were out-shot 12-4 in the first half, but turned things around in the second half, out-shooting the Tomahawks 10-4.

“They changed it in the second half, just a half too late,” Hanson said.

Despite the tough defeat, Hanson was extremely pleased with her team’s effort over the final quarter of the season.

“I told them in the huddle, ‘girls I don’t know many teams that would be able to come back after 11 or 12 losses and get three straight wins,’” she said.

OHHS 3, Mount Vernon 1

Oak Harbor, which finished 4-11-1 overall, defeated Mount Vernon for its third straight win on Tuesday night.

Bridgette Walker, Abigail Pruss and Mary Jo Mangiameli had Oak Harbor’s goals. Ashley Meaux and Sarah Newsome each had an assist.

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