The hard-working members of the Oak Harbor High School soccer team and their coach, Steve Barker, deserved a better fate.

Pitted against one of the top three teams in the WesCo North in Monday’s match, the Wildcats held a 1-0 halftime lead, only to have the Monroe Bearcats come back with the tying goal three minutes into the second half of action and then win the game 2-1 on a header by Jack Fortune in the first overtime period.

“I don’t have to much to say, we had our chances and just didn’t put them away,” Barker said.

Playing in much better conditions than in previous games at Wildcat Memorial Stadium, Oak Harbor took it right to the Bearcats in the first 40 minutes of action.

At the 25-minute mark of the first half, Oak Harbor’s Kevin Flavin beat Monroe goal keeper Miles Garman with a shot to put the Wildcats ahead 1-0.

“We have a great team, we just have to believe in ourselves,” Flavin said.

Monroe had a couple of scoring opportunities in the first half and with 18 minutes remaining, Drew Hopkins had a driving shot hit the cross bar above Oak Harbor goal keeper Jack O’Neil’s head and bounce wide of the net.

Monroe’s Andrew Barrett tied the score putting a header past O’Neil three minutes into the second half of play, and the score remained tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

In the first overtime period, Fortune took a crossing pass from teammate Manny Aguirre and tallied the winning goal.

Barker praised sophomore Gregory Wolfe for his strong play in the game.

“If we had 10 kids on the field playing like he did tonight, we would do just fine,” Barker said.

Oak Harbor’s next home game is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, against Arlington.