The Grays Harbor Gulls are expecting a wide open road game against the Issaquah Gunners today and they’re hoping that translates into a lot of scoring.

Grays Harbor (3-2 Western Washington Premier League) split a pair of games with the Gunners last season, winning the second meeting 6-2.

Gulls head coach Drew Grannemann said he is encouraging his players to shoot when they face the Gunners (2-1-4) this afternoon.

“They give up a lot of goals and they give up a lot of shots on target,” he said. “If we play the way we were playing the last couple of matches, where we’re attacking and we’re not afraid to pull the trigger around the 18 and put shots on goal, I think we should have great success in finding some goals.”

Issaquah has played in some high-scoring affairs this season but hasn’t been able to generate enough offense to compensate for the chances it allows. Out of the 11 teams in the league, the Gunners have given up the 10th most goals this season, allowing opponents to find the back of the net 26 times in seven matches.

Gulls midfielder Alex Barene said building confidence early on will be key against a team that figures to allow a fair amount of scoring opportunities.

“We need to come out on the front foot. If you look at the games we lost it’s because we’ve given up goals early and got down on ourselves,” he said. “If we pounce on them quickly and get a goal or two I think they are a team that’s not going to come back from that.”

The Gunners are not without their offensive threats, however. Issaquah won the first match over the Gulls in the 2018 campaign by a score of 3-0.

Comparatively speaking, the Gunners have also shown more firepower than their opponents this season and have scored 15 goals in seven games while the Gulls have scored eight goals in five games.

Grannemann said Issaquah can be dangerous if it gets a chance to swing the ball out wide.

“The biggest thing I remember about them is their ability to distribute from the midfield out to their wings,” he said. “The first time we played them they scored three goals finding a central midfielder right around midfield and they just lofted the ball to the corner flag. Then they just cut back to a forward running in from the 18.”

The back line will need to be on the lookout for runners looking to finish on crosses into the box, but Grays Harbor will have to make a personnel adjustment on defense against Issaquah.

The Gulls will hit the field with the same starting 11 they had in last week’s win over Lacey with the exception of center back Israel Fernandez, who is unavailable to play.

Gulls fullback Victor Corona said his team has the ball movement to get a similar result to Grays Harbor’s victory last season.

“We touched the ball pretty good the last time we played them at home. That was one of the reasons we beat them that bad,” he said. “If we go into this weekend moving the ball like we did last game against the (Lacey) Pocket Gophers, I think we can do pretty good.”

Kick off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Issaquah High School.