Aberdeen made an early goal stand up for the rest of the match in it’s season-opening 1-0 win against Elma at Stewart Field on Wednesday.

The Bobcats capitalized on a corner kick in the eighth minute of the match when Hulizes Chavez found some open space three yards inside the box.

Chavez’s shot beat Elma keeper AJ Hernandez and gave Aberdeen the 1-0 lead the Bobcats protected for the remainder of the contest.

Chavez said he was pleased with the effort of his fellow forwards and is hoping to see the shot total increase as they continue to develop chemistry as a unit.

“We did pretty good and we were working hard, but we need to talk more and open up more,” he said. “We could have got more than five shots.”

Aberdeen didn’t score again in the match but it had its opportunities to expand the lead as the Bobcats controlled possession for the next 20 minutes of play.

Elma’s Christian Spencer, right, wins a battle for the ball against Aberdeen’s Hulizes Chavez in the first half on Tuesday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)

Elma’s best chance to tie the match came in the 30th minute when Rodrigo Luna’s shot from outside the box hit the cross bar and was cleared away from danger by Aberdeen’s fullbacks.

Elma head coach Carson Seaburg said he expects his forwards to convert on chances like that as the season progresses.

“I thought our midfielders were able to posses the ball and connect passes,” he said. “We’re pretty young upfront so I think as those guys adjust to the varsity game and find more ways to become goal dangerous, that’s going to go a long way for us.”

Elma found better success keeping the ball in Aberdeen’s half of the field, but still had trouble putting Aberdeen keeper Luis Soto under pressure as he faced two shots in the final 40 minutes.

With Elma pushing players further up the field, Aberdeen didn’t see any increase in its scoring chances.

Hernandez did well defending corner kicks and caught three corner kicks as they entered the box to end Aberdeen’s scoring threat.

Elma’s AJ Hernandez catches a cross into the box in the second half against Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)

“Someone was supposed to be in front of AJ but then the ball would go over their heads and go right to AJ,” Aberdeen head coach Larry Fleming said. “You have to be most aggressive in front of their goal, you have nothing to lose. Some guys are thinking, ‘Maybe somebody else will get it.’ You have to be the one every time.”

Aberdeen will be looking for more offense next time out when the Bobcats host Hoquiam at 7 p.m on Thursday at Stewart Field.

Elma’s next match will be at Black Hills on Friday at 7 p.m.

Seaburg is pleased with the way his team is defending so far in the young season and is hoping to see his forwards give his backline some goal support on Friday.

“I’m really pleased with the start of the season,” he said. “We’re younger and have a lot of new starters up front, so hopefully we’ll just keep improving.”

Aberdeen 1 0 – 1

Elma 0 0 – 0

Top Players: Aberdeen — Chavez (G)

Black Hills 6, Montesano 1

In their season opening game, the Montesano Bulldogs played to a scoreless first-half tie with the visiting Black Hills Wolves. But a second-half onslaught of offense, primarily from Black Hills, led to a 6-1 defeat for the Bulldogs.

“I think we got a little bit tired because they put a little more pressure on us,” Montesano head coach Rick Denholm said. “We made some subs and just got out of our shape and they exposed us on the back end.”

The teams played even the first half, with Black Hills (1-0 overall)

having a few shots go off the post and generally controlling the pace of play.

But less than two minutes after the break, Black Hills junior midfielder Evan Ellison scored to give the Wolves the lead and they were off to the races.

After a second Black Hills goal was scored three minutes later, the Bulldogs cut the deficit in half when Max Urbanski scored off a feed from Luis Muro inside the 18-yard box to make it a 2-1 contest.

But that was as close as Monte would get as Black Hills consistently moved the ball deep into the Bulldogs’ third and converted opportunities to score four goals over the next 16 minutes, defeating the Bulldogs, 6-1.

Monte was without multiple players that were not yet deemed eligible due to lack of minimum practice time, so Denholm used the first game of the season to tinker with the lineup.

“My idea in the first game was to play a lot of kids and see where they fit, try them in different places,” he said. “We still have a few players we need to get eligible, but I see our team continuously improving throughout the year.”

Monte plays at Rochester High School at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Black Hills 0 6 — 6

Montesano 0 1 — 1

Top Players: Montesano — Urbanski (G), Muro (A).

— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group

PREP BASEBALL

North Mason 12, Elma 1

A day after handing North Mason a season-opening loss, Elma had the favor returned to them by the Bulldogs in a 12-1 loss on Tuesday in Elma.

The Eagles (1-1 overall) had trouble scoring against North Mason senior pitcher Brenden Kimball. The right-hander made his presence felt, allowing two hits and one earned run in the five inning, mercy-rule victory.

Kimball threw 80 pitches, 51 for strikes, and struck out nine Eagles.

The Eagles lone run came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Brody Rustemeyer, who was aboard with a one-out walk, was chased home on sophomore Justin Elliot’s line-drive double to right field.

But the game was well out of reach for the Eagles at that point, as the run made it an 11-1 ballgame.

Rustemeyer took the loss for Elma, allowing seven runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings of work.

Errors proved costly for Elma, as eight of North Mason’s 12 runs were unearned and the Eagles defense committed four errors in the game.

Elma plays at Napavine at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

North Mason 007 41 — 12 8 1

Elma 000 10 — 1 2 4

WP — Kimball (5 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BB, 9 K); Rustemeyer (2.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, ER, 3 BB, 4 K).

Top Players: Elma — Elliot (1-2, 2B, RBI), Rustemeyer (0-1, BB, R), Brady Shriver (1-1, 2 BB). North Mason — Mason Shumacher (1-3, R, 3 RBI), Trevor Deardorff (1-3, 2 RBI), Troy McCormick (1-3, 2 RBI).

— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group