After an up and down week of emotions, the Oak Harbor soccer team’s late season playoff rally came to an end with a 2-1 loss to Jackson Saturday night.
The Wildcats started out the aggressor in Saturday’s single elimination “pig tail” playoff game, but fell behind with only ten minutes left in the first half after the Timberwolves scored on an indirect penalty kick.
Oak Harbor responded with a goal of their own eight minutes into the first half off the foot of senior Grant Bull. Bull drove a ricochet off a defender right past Jackson goal keeper Chris Ellis, knotting the score at 1-1.
It didn’t take long for the Timberwolves to answer with what was eventually the game winning goal. Only a minute after Bull’s score, Jackson’s Sam Hartman stole the ball from an Oak Harbor defender deep in Wildcat territory and placed a shot in the back of the net.
Efforts to tie the game over the final 30 minutes fell short against a solid Timberwolf defense as the Cats ended their season 8-9-1.
Saturday’s game was the final high school soccer competition for nine Wildcats. There will be five juniors returning next season, including starting defenders Ryne Fakkema and Justin Connolly.
Oak Harbor 1, MT. Vernon 0
The Wildcats made their playoff game possible on Saturday after gaining a crucial 1-0 victory over Mount Vernon in a fifth place tie-breaker game Friday night.
“It was a wonderful match, we did what we wanted to do again,” head coach Steve Barker said. “We knew that if we came at them really fast and hard with a lot of real quick passing wide and down the flanks and pulled it back into the center we would get a goal.”
The Cats scored their lone goal only six minutes into the game off the foot of senior midfielder Alex Fulwiler. Fulwiler’s third goal of the season came off a nice assist from senior Dan Hinkley, who set the school record in the process with 12 assists in one season.
“He just dishes off great balls,” Fulwiler said. “I mean I just tapped it in, I didn’t do anything, that was all Dan.”
In almost a mirror image of a game played a week earlier the Bulldogs displayed what could be considered an overly aggressive style of play as they received two ejections throughout the game.
“Mount Vernon is a tough team,” Fulwiler said. “They always play really aggressive.”
For the second week in a row, the Bulldogs took down Bull on what Barker considered a “deliberate” foul. The injury forced the starting forward to sit out the remainder of the game.
Despite Mount Vernon’s efforts to unravel their emotions, Oak Harbor kept their heads throughout the game. A strong Wildcat defense along with the play of senior goal keeper Chad Asmus held Mount Vernon scoreless. It was the fourth shut out in the last five games for Asmus.
“Chad did a wonderful job in the nets tonight,” Barker said. “He was a little distracted up at Monroe but he redeemed himself brilliantly tonight and our fullbacks made sure they had no shots on him.”
