Coming into the season, Oak Harbor High School soccer coach Mike Lonborg was concerned about his team’s ability to score; the Wildcats tallied just eight goals in 2013.

Scoring goals wasn’t a problem in the season opener with visiting Lakewood Tuesday, Sept. 9, as the Wildcats rolled to a 6-1 win.

Sophomore Mary Johnston, making her OHHS debut, riddled the Cougars for four goals. Another newcomer, freshman Caylie Etherington, also scored, as did sophomore Lydia Peplinski.

Peplinski also registered two assists; Hayley Lundstrom, Suzanne Kaltenbach and Lauryn Plush had one each.

Oak Harbor jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then Lakewood converted its one score.

The Wildcats quickly answered, scoring 30 second later to take a 3-1 halftime lead.

“It was a total team effort,” Lonborg said. “We were solid across the board. We made the right decisions overall, now we just have to make them faster, both mentally and physically.”

“The team did a nice job of possession and solid passing,” he added.  “We had some great through balls and some great runs buy our forwards.

“The defense did a great job of controlling the game with the one exception on a long-range shot. Lakewood didn’t really challenge for any other goals.

“We had some great overlapping runs coming out of the backfield and solid shifting in our lines.”

Lonborg called the win a “nice start,” but he expects the competition to “get more difficult with each game.”

Lakewood, a 2A school, finished 7-10-1 last year.

Next up is 3A Ferndale, which tied Lynden 1-1 Tuesday.

The Wildcats host the Golden Eagles in a nonleague match at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13.

From there, Oak Harbor heads into play against the rugged Wesco teams, starting at 7:30 p.m. at Lynnwood Tuesday, Sept.16.