MONTESANO — Not even stellar Bulldog defense could deny the reigning state champion — or end Montesano’s recent state soccer hex.
Scoring both its goals in the first 30 minutes, Overlake opened defense of its state 1A girls soccer championship with a 2-0 victory over Montesano in a first-round contest on Wednesday night at Rottle Field.
The Owls from Redmond advanced to a quarterfinal match in Eastern Washington on Saturday. Montesano concluded its season at 14-4-1.
Although they’ve qualified for state in seven of the last eight seasons, the Bulldogs haven’t won a state contest since 2008.
In retrospect, their best chance of ending that streak might have vanished when they dropped a frustrating 1-0 decision to King’s Way Christian in last Saturday’s District IV championship game. A win there would have given Monte a presumably easier state draw and the possibility of two state contests at home.
King’s Way Christian downed Lynden Christian, 2-0, in another first-round game Wednesday.
In terms of speed and passing, however, Overlake was operating at another level.
“It’s a classic Overlake team,” Monte coach Fidel Sanchez said. “Their touches were really, really on-point and they’ve a very dynamic team.”
The Bulldogs had played Overlake to a scoreless draw in a late September non-leaguer. Even in that contest, however, the Owls had dominated time of possession.
That trend continued Wednesday, as perhaps 90 percent of the match was played in Montesano’s end. When Overlake junior Serena Home converted Kate McConnell’s perfect corner kick by scoring from point-blank range in the 18th minute, it changed the dynamics of the rematch.
Although they attempted to step up their offense, particularly in the second half, the Bulldogs experienced difficulty putting together passes. Sanchez said his team had trouble adjusting to Overlake’s speed and reaction time.
“That’s what happens when you play in a league where you don’t see that (type of team) every day,” the Bulldog coach said. “We were panicking too much.”
He had few complaints about Montesano’s defense.
Senior goalkeeper Haylee Perkinson closed out her prep career with a typically outstanding performance. Perkinson made several quality saves — twice denying Overlake’s Janna Basra on breakaways.
Basra did, however, score Overlake’s second goal by lofting about a 20-yard shot over a leaping Perkinson into the roof of the net in the 29th minute.
Yeoman work by Perkinson and defenders Katie Granstrom, Lindsey Hutchings and Morgan Kersker kept the margin at two, but the Bulldogs could not generate enough attacks to threaten.
Montesano was credited with two shots on goal, but only the second represented a decent scoring chance.
Freshman midfielder Zoee Lisherness boomed an outside shot during stoppage time in the second half that Overlake goalkeeper Jamison Foster knocked down and then secured before a Bulldog could pick up the rebound.
Sanchez cited Perkinson, Granstrom and midfielder Lauren Denholm for particularly fine outings.
Montesano had an unbeaten Evergreen 1A League season to its credit this season.
“We had a good season,” Sanchez signed off. “The girls played hard. I can’t ask for anything more from them.”
