Coupeville’s girls’ soccer team put up a battle in a 5-0 loss to the state’s No. 1 ranked 2A school, visiting Archbishop Thomas Murphy, Tuesday.

The Wildcats had outscored opponents 62-1 in their nine matches, including an 11-0 romp over Coupeville September 22. Although Coupeville fell again, it was far from the ease of the first matchup.

Coupeville held the Wildcats scoreless until the 44th minute and trailed only 1-0 at the half.

Coach Mike Thornton said the day before the ATM match his girls had a defeatist attitude and were intimidated. He said, “We (the coaching staff) tried to get them to understand in practice how to compete.” Compete, they did, according to Thornton. The Wolves didn’t score, but they did, in Thornton’s words, “take it to them” and created chances to put points on the board.

Thornton said, “I am very pleased with how they played.”

He noted how when the Wildcats scored several times late in the match to secure the win, his girls caught themselves hanging their heads, but “they didn’t quit” and fought through it.

Thursday the Wolves host Sultan at 5:30 at Mickey Clark Field.