The strongest offensive showing of the season for the Oak Harbor High School soccer team wasn’t nearly enough as the Wildcats lost 6-3 to Lynnwood Friday, March 25, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

It was a matter of one step forward, two steps back for Oak Harbor. It entered the match with only two goals in its first four games, while its defense surrendered only three.

The offense improved with goals from Rodrigo Colombo, Kurtis Zylstra and Ramon Acosta. Its defense, however, was burned for six goals by Lynnwood (1-0, 3-1-1).

The Wildcats struggled to contain Dane Evanger, who tallied four times for the Royals.

Oak Harbor started fast, punching in the match’s first two goals. The Royals countered, tying the match and then started to pull away against the shorthanded Wildcat defense.

Oak Harbor lost defender Seth Gluth to a head injury during the match and played without starting mid JJ Mitchell, who was also injured.

“This left us weaker in the middle,” Oak Harbor coach Brian Thompson said. “They are a very aggressive team and we didn’t handle it well after that point.”

The match was the league opener for both schools.

Oak Harbor (0-1, 1-3-1) goes to Arlington (0-1, 2-2-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 1.

(Left: Rodrigo Colombo goes on the attack for Oak Harbor. Colombo scored one of Oak Harbor’s three goals. Photo by John Fisken.)