It’s been a long season for the Oak Harbor girls soccer team.

The Wildcats knew going into 2006 they were a young team and were going to have to use a few inexperienced players in starting positions.

Then injuries were suffered by several key players that put them out of action for the season and others had a number of nagging little hurts that kept the team from being at 100 percent for every game.

However, the girls hung together and never stopped playing hard.

Entering Thursday’s final game Oak Harbor’s record was 0-14-1 but, as always, a fired up bunch of Wildcats took the field against Marysville-Pilchuck on Senior Night.

Aggressive play made the score 1-1 at halftime and the Wildcats stepped up the tempo even more in the second 40 minutes.

The result was a pair of goals to give Oak Harbor a 3-1 victory over the Tomahawks for its first win of the season.

“We had a goal tonight which was to play to prove it to ourselves that we had pride,” coach Gretchen Hanson said.

Carson McKole gave Oak Harbor a 1-0 lead with a goal at the 29:46 mark of the first half, but Marysville-Pilchuck’s Nicolette Runyan tied the score less than 10 minutes before halftime with a shot that beat a diving Wildcat keeper Kelli Roberts.

The Wildcats played good defense to begin the second half and their aggressive play paid off.

With 12:48 remaining, Oak Harbor senior Bridgett Walker was fouled right in front of the Tomahawks’ net and senior Ashli Melcher tallied a goal on a penalty kick to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.

“When you play excellent, success will come,” Walker said.

Less than two minutes later, sophomore Kathy Silvera gave the Wildcats some cushion with a third goal.

“I really wanted it,” Silvera said.

Having a difficult time between laughing and crying, McKole said it felt good to win. “We won it for the seniors,” she said.

Junior Sam Shulock handled Oak Harbor’s goal keeping duties in the second half and did a great job turning back four Marysville-Pilchuck scoring attempts.

“I stayed on my line,” she said. “I’m short so when I’m in goal my weakness has been being chipped, but I stayed on the line the whole time tonight.”

“The win column didn’t show it this year, but the girls really stepped up to the plate,” Hanson said. “They’ve had to go through a lot of adversity this year from broken legs to knee strains to you name it. They fought through a lot and it was great to end on a quality note.”

They joined the football team in winning their last game at old War Memorial Stadium.