Bryley Gilbert and her Coupeville soccer teammates fought hard Tuesday but fell to 3A Oak Harbor. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It was a bit lopsided.
The Coupeville High School girls soccer team scrapped and fought from the opening tap to the final whistle Tuesday but were eventually overwhelmed by their neighbors from the North.
By the time things were done, visiting Oak Harbor, a 3A school, had polished off the 2B Wolves to the tune of 9-0.
The non-conference loss, coming in its home opener, drops Coupeville to 0-2 on the season.
The Wolves get a chance to bounce right back however, with two more games this week.
CHS travels to University Prep Thursday, before hosting Ocosta Saturday.
The latter of those games is a 2 PM start at Mickey Clark Field.
Tuesday’s Island rivalry tilt was a scoreless affair for a good chunk of time, before Oak Harbor began to find and exploit the cracks in Coupeville’s defense, which spent much of the first half playing on its heels.
The Wildcats punched in the game’s first goal in the 10th minute, added two more in a seven-minute span, then blew things open with three scores in the final four minutes of the first half.
Coupeville was extremely limited in its scoring opportunities, making things easy-peasy for Oak Harbor goaltender (and former Wolf middle school star) Lauren Marrs.
The Wildcats tacked on three more goals in the second half, though Coupeville’s defenders, led by Nezi Keiper, continued to scrap for every loose ball.
While it’s tough for any 2B program to punch up three levels and face a 3A school, Coupeville coach Kyle Nelson was philosophical afterwards.
“It gave us a chance to go out and play, and get some solid playing time for our players, a lot of whom are fairly new,” he said.
“It helps us build.”
