The Anacortes High School soccer team took advantage of its chances and Oak Harbor didn’t as the Seahawks defeated the Wildcats 2-0 in the season opener at Wildcat Memorial Stadium Saturday, March 14.

Anacortes, with a strong wind at its back, scored two goals early in the second half. The goals came on a wind-aided, long looper and a chip shot over the keeper.

Oak Harbor, with the wind blowing its way, dominated the first 15 minutes of the match but couldn’t cash in. From that point the game was fairly even, but the Wildcats struggled to gets shots on goal once they played into the wind.

“Very even game,” Oak Harbor coach Brian Thompson said. “It was pretty good for a first game. I was pleased.”

The Anacortes coach told Thompson, the Seahawks, who went 14-4-2 last season and qualified for the state playoffs, should be state contender again this season.

Thompson liked the play of J.J. Mitchell in the middle and Taylor Yancy in the back.

He also liked the effort of sophomore goalkeeper Jared Hoyt: “For not having a lot of experience at this level, he did a good job for his first game.”

Oak Harbor was missing four players, Thompson said. The players did not have enough practices, missing because of other school commitments. (Players must have 10 practices to compete in a game.)

Thompson said that was not an excuse for the loss because Anacortes was also missing players.

The Wildcats (0-1) go to Mount Vernon (0-0) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 17.