Although the Oak Harbor High School soccer team lost 3-2 in overtime to Shorecrest Wednesday, April 6, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium, coach Brian Thompson was pleased with how his team competed with the Scots.
Shorecrest is one of the Washington’s top programs, placing in the state tournament in 13 of the past 15 seasons, including winning titles in 2004 and 2009 and finishing third last spring.
“I would have liked to have won,” Thompson said, “but I am not feeling bad about losing. We played hard. To lose to those guys in overtime, I don’t feel bad at all.”
He also noted that his club, winners of two straight, didn’t play its best: “Shorecrest threw us off our game a little bit.”
Oak Harbor struggled to generate an offensive attack in the match as the Scots controlled the tempo.
“They came at us fast in the beginning, and we definitely got into a defensive mode,” Thompson said.
Oak Harbor took advantage of one of its few scoring opportunities, and its first real threat in the first half, when Rodrigo Colombo broke open with a strong move and curved a shot in from 25 yards out to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with 24 minutes left before the break.
The lead held up through the first 40 minutes as the Wildcat defense and goalkeeper Jared Hoyt turned back the Scots’ relentless attack.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Shorecrest had a goal waved off when it booted the ball out of the hands of a diving Hoyt. Ten minutes later, the Scots hit one that counted on a rocket shot from 20 yards.
It took less than three minutes for Shorecrest (2-2, 3-3-2) to take the lead. Leon Bormann dribbled between two defenders and buried a shot from 20 yards for the score.
With eight minutes left in regulation, Oak Harbor’s JJ Mitchell scored the equalizer on a header off a free kick from the far left of the goal.
Less than a minute into overtime, Oak Harbor was whistled for a handball and the Scots scored on an 18-yard direct free kick to claim the match.
Oak Harbor (2-2, 3-4-1) plays Shorewood (4-1, 6-1-2) at Shoreline Stadium at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 12.
(Kegan Snell, top, and Eric Jensen both use headers to help Oak Harbor go on the attack. Photos by John Fisken.)
