The Mount Si Wildcat girls’ soccer team went to Interlake Oct.17 and continued their recent string of strong play in a 3-0 win over the Saints at Interlake High School. It was the third shutout in a row by Wildcat goalie Jessica Blessard since Mount Si’s loss Oct. 10 at home to Liberty.

Monica Nelson scored a pair of second-half goals to lead the Wildcats. The senior became the 10th player to score a goal for Mount Si this season; prior to the game, she only had two assists to her credit.

The scoring started early as fellow senior Jessica Oliver continued her hot play as of late, scoring the first goal off a feed from Nikki Stanton midway through the first half. “I’m pretty sure it was from Nikki and she made a through ball and I dribbled down a few yards and shot and it hit off the far post and went in,” Oliver said.

Mount Si continued to pressure Interlake’s defense, which had given the Wildcats trouble in Mount Si’s 3-1 win Sept. 21 at home during the two teams’ previous meeting. That pressure paid off in the 56th minute as Nelson fired one from the corner to the left of the Interlake keeper into the back of the net. Stanton was credited with the assist. Just a couple minutes later, Nelson scored again. It was almost an exact copy of the previous goal.

“They were just great through balls and I happened to be there,” Nelson said.

Just minutes later, the Wildcats missed another chance off the crossbar and the defense took over from there, keeping the Saints away from Blessard.

Wildcat coach Darren Brown was pleased with the continued balance. “I think we’re getting contributions from just about everybody, which is always nice. I think that it’s always good to see different people getting looks, and I’m glad Monica got on the scoreboard and she had a couple good looks, good finishes tonight,” Brown said.

Defender Katie Woolsey was also pleased with the efforts. “Our offense is really coming together and I’m really proud of how our team’s all working together,” she said.

The junior praised her defensive teammates. “Well, I have Vica [Falcon] and Jo [Wilson] and Kara [Clearman] and they’re just amazing to work with and they’re very easy to talk to and basically, I just tell them what to do and they listen, and if we have a problem, we work it out and I’m very proud of them,” Woolsey said.

Despite the fact that the Saints are winless, Brown thinks Interlake may be on the rise. “I think Interlake’s really, really coming around as a program. It’s great to see. Justin [Petersen] is a great guy, the Interlake head coach, and he’s working hard at getting that program on the right foot and they’re making improvements.”

As the season winds down, the play of freshman newcomers Chloe Loveridge and Taylor Warnke has been helpful to the Mount Si effort. Woolsey says to look for more of the same. “I’m very excited about Chloe and Taylor. Taylor’s going to be filling in for me at sweeper if I need to go to a different position and Chloe’s filling in for Kara in the midfield, defensive-mid and I’m very excited. I’m very ready for them to step up,” Woolsey said.

The Wildcats were off last Thursday, Oct. 19, and Mount Si wraps up the regular season schedule this Thursday at Newport. The playoffs open next Tuesday. If the Wildcats keep winning the chances of state look relatively good as the Sea-King District has five state berths this season.