First an Oak Harbor player went down, then the Wildcat defense fell in a 5-2 loss to Shorecrest Tuesday, March 28, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

“Last night started well for us,” Oak Harbor coach Jeff Laiblin said. “About 15 minutes into the game, we lost a defender due to a hamstring pull, and from there we began to make mistakes and allowed Shorecrest to dictate the pace of the game. As a result, we went down 3-0 at the half.”

After the break, the Wildcats regrouped and got back into the match. Midway through the second half, Spencer Champion scored, and five minutes later, Kurtis Zylstra found the net to slice the Scots’ lead to one, 3-2.

Oak Harbor, however, missed on several late scoring chances and surrendered two counter goals to Shorecrest (1-2, 2-4-1).

“We learned positive and negative lessons from the match and hope to appropriately apply the lessons this Friday,” Laiblin said.

The Wildcats (0-3, 2-4-1) head to Snohomish (2-0, 4-1) for a 7:30 p.m. match Friday, March 31.

Josh Coe puts the ball in play for the Wildcats. (Photo by John Fisken)

Taylor Jackson boots the ball for Oak Harbor in Tuesday’s match. (Photo by John Fisken)

Chaz Purdy advances the ball for the Wildcats against Shorecrest. (Photo by John Fisken)