This is a habit the Coupeville High School soccer team would like to break.

The Wolves suffered another close loss, falling 1-0 to Lakewood in a shootout Friday, April 12, at Mickey Clark Field.

Half of Coupeville’s 10 losses have been by one goal, and two of those came in shootouts.

The latest heartbreaker came to the Cougars (7-1, 8-1), the conference’s second-place team.

Lakewood goalkeeper Sam Roe made two saves in the shootout and scored a shootout goal to lead at the Cougars.

The Wolves keeper Kole Kellison almost matched the defensive efforts of Roe. Coach Paul Mendes said Kellison “managed to get a good read on their first (shootout) kick and got a hand on it diving to his left, but it was not enough to keep the ball from going in.”

One positive of the match was Kellison and company recorded a shutout during regulation, a first for Coupeville this season, and the effort came against one of the league’s best teams.

The Wolves had several scoring opportunities, according to Mendes.

Nathan Lamb nearly scored in the first half off a “nice passing play,” Mendes said, that was saved by Roe.

In the second half, Luke Pelant’s header went just wide of the left post, then Nathan Kircher beat two defenders on the right wing and fed Josh Wilsey for a short shot that was “blocked on a great defensive effort by Lakewood.”

Next up for the Wolves (0-9, 0-10) is a trip to South Whidbey (5-3, 5-3-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 16.

Mendes said, “We are continuing to close the gap, and if we keep working hard, some breaks will come our way.”