Oak Harbor’s soccer team has made tremendous strides in the first eight games of the season, but is still seeking that elusive second victory.

On Tuesday the Wildcats hosted Cascade, the team that had been a 9-0 winner in the first WesCo North game of the season between the two squads, and it took a goal with just over two minutes remaining for the Bruins to slip out of Memorial Stadium with a 1-0 victory.

A disappointed but proud Oak Harbor coach Steve Baker said it hurts to lose a game like that.

“You can’t imagine how much we’ve improved this season,” he said. “Last time they beat us nine nil and this time around we drove one of the top three teams in the league to the wall.”

The Wildcats battled the six-and-three Bruins, currently in third place in the WesCo North standings, for over 77 minutes in the game until Cascades’ Eric Miller beat leaping Oak Harbor goal keeper Zach Koeller with a shot in the upper-right corner of the net with 2:17 left on the clock.

“We all played really well and everybody fought tonight,” Baker said. “We had our chances, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the net. To tell the truth, I thought we had them beat. This team has made so many improvements and right now we are probably the best one-and-seven team in the state.”