Oak Harbor shocks Hawks but falls short of playoffs / Soccer

By Jim Waller • May 2, 2017 1:30 am

The Oak Harbor High School soccer team did its part — a most improbable win over Mountlake Terrace — but didn’t get the help it needed from Marysville-Pilchuck to qualify for the postseason.

Going into the regular-season finale Monday, the Wildcats need two things to happen to qualify for the ninth and final Wesco playoff berth.

They needed to upset second-place Mountlake Terrace and have Marysville-Pilchuck beat Arlington.

Oak Harbor stunned Terrace 3-2 in overtime, but M-P fell 1-0 in overtime to Arlington.

Regardless, it was a thrilling finish to a frustrating season for the Wildcats.

Oak Harbor battled injuries and other issues throughout the spring, sometimes missing up to a half dozen varsity players. The Wildcats finished with a 3-7-2 record in conference play and 5-8-3 overall but were better, when at full strength, than the marks would indicate, according to coach Jeff Laiblin.

Case in point, he said, was the Mountlake Terrace match. The Hawks came to Oak Harbor with an 11-4 record and needing a win to secure the top seed into the 2A district tournament.

Oak Harbor stopped the talented Hawks and left Laiblin reluctantly wondering “what if.”

“This was the No. 2 team and we just beat them, and if we were at full strength all year — well, it wasn’t in the cards,” Laiblin said.

Oak Harbor slayed Mountlake Terrace in an unlikely fashion.

The Hawks own Wesco’s top defense, yielding only eight goals coming into the match. Only twice did Mountlake Terrace surrender two goals in a contest this year and never three. So when the Hawks took a 2-0 lead into halftime, chances for an Oak Harbor victory were bleak.

The Wildcats changed their strategy at halftime, going into an “all-out attack mode,” Laiblin said. The payoff was immediate.

Just seconds after the break, Kegan Snell, taking a long pass from JJ Mitchell, got the comeback started with a left-footed goal from 20 yards out.

Mitchell, off an assist from Chaz Purdy, dribbled through the vaunted Terrace defense and drilled a 25-yarder for the tying goal with 17:45 left in the half.

Each team created two excellent scoring chances during the final push in regulation but couldn’t hit the back of the net.

Oak Harbor received strong goal work from Jared Hoyt and Austin Moncada, who entered the match with 14 minutes left.

Just seconds into overtime, Oak Harbor missed a great opportunity to score, but the Wildcats didn’t waste its next chance. With 2:35 left on the clock, Mitchell blasted home the golden goal to complete the Wildcat rally.

Mitchell’s two goals gave him 15 for the season, second most in OHHS history.

“Can’t tell you how proud I am of my guys,” Laiblin said. “They did not let the sport of soccer define them. They dug down to another level.”