SNOQUALMIE – It was a big week of games last week for the Mount Si Wildcat boys’ soccer team as they tried to make the case for postseason aspirations. Unfortunately, the Wildcats failed to make it, and now see themselves having to fight for every point just to stay in contention.

Last week, Mount Si went to Newport and took a 2-0 lead on the perennial but recently vulnerable Knights before Newport rallied to end the game in a 2-2 tie. Yosef Yetneberk and Gibson Bardsley both continued their offensive domination this season, each scoring a goal to help the Wildcats.

Newport’s star Mirza Memic scored one of the Newport goals.

Mount Si can handle Mercer Island

Mount Si returned home on Friday to Snoqualmie Ridge to play a game for the first time in nearly two weeks and came out sluggish in a 4-0 loss to undefeated Mercer Island (MI). The Islanders got a hat trick from junior forward Charles Vallieres and two assists from Adam Jacobson to help in their efforts.

“The team had a pretty good effort. We came out strong, could have finished a little earlier, but just kept being persistent and Chuckie had a real good game and so did Vallieres,” said MI coach Steve Newman, as his team went to a 7-0-0 record with 21 points in league with the victory.

Senior Phil Spitzer started the scoring off for the Islanders in the 31st minute, then Vallieres went to work. He scored in the 38th, 63rd, and 80th minutes to seal the game.

“It’s a fun game to play. We were moving the ball really well and just had the opportunities and put them in. It was kind of rough at first because things weren’t really happening for us. We were attacking our goal and not getting much of opportunities, so after a while I really got frustrated enough. I just started working harder and made them count,” Vallieres said.

Goalies David Addison and Alex Haas combined on the shutout for MI.

The overall evaluation of the week was not great, according to Wildcat coach Darren Brown.

“For Newport, we came out, do what we need to, and we should have won that game. It’s unfortunate that we came out with a tie but coming into tonight’s game we just weren’t mentally prepared. We weren’t in the game. We weren’t focused and that could kill you against a team like Mercer (Island), who is ranked No. 15 in the nation. We can’t come out like that and that killed us,” said Brown.

The Wildcats are tied for second with Newport at a 4-2-1 record in the league. They are also 13 points (eight points behind the Islanders for first place). They are on the road all week. Thursday they play at Sammamish and Saturday, they play at Liberty. Sammamish has rallied from an early-season defeat to Mount Si to post a good 3-3-1 mark in league, one game back of the Wildcats. Kickoff for both contests are 7:30 p.m.