Playing its best game of the season couldn’t carry the Oak Harbor High School soccer team over Meadowdale as the Wildcats lost 1-0 to the Mavericks at Edmonds Stadium Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Oak Harbor coach Mike Lonborg said, “We lost 1-0 but we had our best all around effort of the year. The team is improving each and every game right now and we eliminated a ton of the mental mistakes that were happening. The girls worked hard for the entire game and almost tied it up in the closing minutes.”

Meadowdale (4-2, 7-2), one of a batch of strong teams in the Wesco 3A South, scored on a breakaway 20 minutes into the match.

“The defensive line did a great job of stepping up and pushing the other team offside multiple times,” Lonborg said. “Alyssa Cross did particularly well communicating and shutting down Meadowdale’s top offensive player. Goalkeeper Makenzie Perry had a great second half of the game as well.”

Additionally on defense, the “midfield stepped up and did a great job of closing shooting lanes,” Lonborg said.

He added, “We still need to work on our possession game and the quality of our passes, but the right thought process is there now. Now we just need to execute it better, but overall a much improved performance.”

Oak Harbor (1-5, 3-5-1) goes to Shoreline Stadium to take on Shorewood (3-2-1, 6-2-1) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.