Inconsistent play has been the bugaboo of the Oak Harbor High School soccer team the past few weeks.

Hoping to build some momentum after a 3-3 tie at Arlington Monday, the Wildcats stumbled to a 4-2 loss to visiting Everett Wednesday.

With a roster in constant flux, Oak Harbor can’t get any continuity, according to coach Jeff Laiblin.

Because of injuries and other issues, the Wildcats suited up only eight of their original 16 varsity players in last Friday’s loss at Snohomish.

The team is starting to get some of the players back, and Laiblin expects all but two to be in uniform at practice Monday.

Oak Harbor owned a 2-1-1 record when the injuries started to hit. Since then, the Arlington tie is the only non-loss and the Wildcats have fallen to 2-6-2 (0-5-1 in conference).

In the Everett match, Oak Harbor had its “offensive triangle” of JJ Mitchell, Spencer Champion and Nathan Merrill playing together for a full match for the first time in seven games, Laiblin said.

“We have some moments of goodness and some moments of not so great,” Laiblin said. “It’s hard to be consistent for a whole game with so many kids missing.”

Having six matches in 11 days, allowing little practice time for the new combinations to work together, complicated the issue, Laiblin said.

“I still believe in this group,” he said. “We need to stop this backward slide and move forward. They just need to believe in themselves and take it one game at a time.”

“Our record is not indicative of how good we are,” he added.

With most of the players back Monday, Laiblin said, his club should be able to take a step in the right direction Tuesday when Oak Harbor plays Meadowdale (0-5-1, 1-8-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

Everett 4, Oak Harbor 2

Mitchell put the Wildcats in the lead with a 15-yard header off a long free kick by Seth Gluth seven minutes into the match.

Ten minutes later, the Seagulls scored the tying goal.

Oak Harbor regained the lead when Champion punched in a 10-yard penalty kick with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats nearly added to their lead just 15 seconds after the break when Mitchell’s shot was deflected just enough by Everett keeper Jose Neri-Guzman to force it outside the right post.

Everett then struck quickly, scoring from long range five minutes into the half and again three minutes later to take the lead.

Oak Harbor missed out on three excellent scoring opportunities when shots by Champion and Mitchell whistled just above the cross bar.

Those misses came back to haunt the Wildcats when Everett tallied again with 11 minutes left in the contest.

Oak Harbor’s Cameron Costner looks for an open teammate Wednesday. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)

Oak Harbor’s JJ Mitchell, left, battles Everett’s Elijah Baer for control. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)