Oak Harbor played one of its strongest soccer matches of the year but defensive mistakes led to a 3-0 defeat at Mountlake Terrace Thursday, Sept. 22.

Coach Jeff Laiblin said, “We played much better last night…A frustrating evening because three mistakes made during a solid performance doomed us to defeat…We need to refocus and play the game we are capable of playing for the full 80 minutes. We do that and success is around the corner.”

The Wildcats played well early on, Laiblin said, and missed an opportunity to go ahead when a shot by Jember Jansen just missed its mark.

The tight match was broken up by a Hawk (1-4-1) score midway through the first half because of a miscommunication on defense.

Oak Harbor (0-4-1) entertains Marysville Getchell (0-3-2) Saturday, Sept. 24, at 1 p.m.