The fight for spots in the district soccer playoffs is heating up, and Oak Harbor took a positive step in securing one of the berths with a 2-0 win over Mountlake Terrace Friday, April 12, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

The top three teams in the two Wesco 3A divisions earn automatic district slots, and the Wildcats’ win moved them into a tie with Marysville Getchell (3-4, 3-7) for second in the North, just ahead of fourth-place Marysville-Pilchuck (2-3-1, 3-4-2).

Oak Harbor squares off with Getchell in Marysville Thursday, April 18, but first the Wildcats (3-4, 4-5) have to travel to Shoreline at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to meet one of the state’s top teams, Shorewood (5-1-1, 7-1-1).

In the win over Mountlake Terrace (1-6, 2-7-1), Oak Harbor received goals from Caley Powers and Matt Jensen and two assists from Dakota Powers.

The Wildcats dominated the match and most of the game was played at the Terrace end of the field, but the Hawks did create several excellent scoring opportunities but were stopped by the Wildcat defense led by keeper Kevin Silveira.

Mountlake Terrace, in one of its rare trips into Oak Harbor territory in the first half, almost scored first. With 13 minutes left, the Hawks had a free kick from 20 yards out. The kick created a header that hit the right post, and the rebound shot clanged off the cross bar.

Oak Harbor didn’t miss on its next chance when Caley Powers beat his man off the dribble with 11:30 left in the half.

Just seconds later, Powers barely missed on another shot, but Oak Harbor did convert when Jensen took a pass from Dakota Powers in front of the goal and scored with 8:19 left before the break.

With 24 minutes left in the match, the Hawks had a 25-yard free kick from straight on. Silveira stopped the shot but couldn’t hang on; Terrace’s rebound shot also missed.

With two minutes left, Silveira got a hand on a Hawk corner kick that ricocheted off the cross bar then the post and landed just outside the goal line.

Oak Harbor threatened all night, with Gavin Stewart’s narrow miss on a header with 4:50 remaining the best chance to add a third goal.

Coach Brian Thompson said, “I’m really happy with how we played. We played more to the outside flanks like we should; we wanted to have numbers up in the scoring end of the field. Dakota Powers and Gavin Stewart did a really good job on our outsides.”

With seven matches left, the playoff picture is far from focused, but Thompson sees the best to come: “We haven’t peaked yet.”