Going up against the top squad in the 1A Evergreen League standings, the Tenino soccer team went defensive Thursday, and while parking the bus nearly paid off in a big way, the Beavers ended up falling to Montesano 3-0.
“We kind of decided that we were going to go ahead and try to bunker and use our speed on the counterattacks to try to get a goal,” Tenino coach Dave Montgomery said.
The plan nearly worked, too; in the fifth minute, Abagail Archibald fed a pass to freshman Callie Mickelson who got behind the Montesano defense, but her shot rang off the iron to deny the Beavers (7-6-1, 1-4 1A Evergreen) the opening goal.
Instead, the match stayed scoreless through the opening 40 minutes, though against a Montesano side that was coming off a 14-0 victory, that was its own sort of pass.
“It definitely felt like whoever got the first goal was going to be the team that got all the momentum and win,” Montgomery said.
As the second half began, though, the pressure continued to pile up, before the Bulldogs got the opening goal in the 47th minute.
The Beavers’ back line held things as close as it could for another 20 minutes in the hopes of finding an equalizer on the other end, but instead, the Bulldogs found their second in the 67th — and shortly after, their third in the 70th.
Montesano ended up outshooting Tenino 20-3, with keeper Dakota Lees making 15 saves.
Despite the final scoreline, Montgomery was happy with the defensive effort, especially from freshman Kendall Cox on one outside back spot and Holly Thoren on the other.
“It was a great next-man-up mentality,” he said. “We’ve had a couple injuries and illnesses we’re dealing with.”
Tenino will try to get back in the win column next Tuesday at Elma.
