The Coupeville High School soccer team is putting together solid defensive efforts, but the lack of goals is continuing to hurt as the Wolves lost 2-0 to Cedarcrest Tuesday, Oct. 2, and 1-0 in double overtime to Lakewood Thursday, Oct. 4, at Mickey Clark Field.

“We are continuing our trend of shoring up our defense. Earlier this season Cedarcrest defeated Coupeville 6-0 and Lakewood topped the Wolves 5-0,” Wolf coach Dan d’Almeida said.

While the defense has improved, the offense has now failed to score in five straight matches.

“We are building our attack, making progress, it just doesn’t show up on the score sheet,” d’Almeida said,. “We are putting more pressure on the goalies than in the past.”

“We have way more one-on-one opportunities, we just can’t get them past the goalkeepers,” he said.

Near misses have been abundant this fall, and the Wolves had another against Cedarcrest. Madison Tisa McPhee drilled a shot off the crossbar.

“Had it gone in,” d’Almeida said, “it would have been interested to see how the match would have turned out.”

Cedarcrest scored in the first half on a 30-yard floater, then sewed up the match with a goal with 12 minutes left.

The Wolves had several scoring chances in the first half, but adjustments by the Red Wolves at the break slowed the Coupeville attack.

Cedarcrest started to clamp down on Amanda d’Almeida in the second half, eliminating her through balls that threatened the Red Wolves the first 40 minutes.

Coach d’Almeida praised the overall play of Tisa McPhee and his daughter, Amanda d’Almeida as well as the defense of Anna Bailey, who was “pressuring the ball … and leading the back line.”

A loss in overtime is never easy, but when you haven’t won a match, it is particularly crippling.

Lakewood scored late in the second overtime to eke out the 1-0 win.

After battling through a scoreless regulation period and nearly two overtimes, the Cougars scored off a ground cross from the left side near the end of the second OT.

“The girls did an excellent job, especially in the defensive back line,” d’Almeida said.

The Wolves, playing with a “makeshift offensive lineup,” d’Almeida said, got the ball behind the Cougar defense several times but never got a quality shot.

The heartbreaking loss was the 11th straight for Coupeville. “We are right there,” he said.

The Wolves (0-9, 0-11) played at South Whidbey (3-6, 3-7-1) Tuesday and host Sultan (1-8, 2-9) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11.