The Mount Si girls soccer team posted their first league victory last week — but it didn’t come easy. The Wildcats overcame struggles and used a goal from one of their leaders to grab the win.

Lauren Snead scored in the second half to lift the Wildcats to a 2-1 win over the Interlake Saints last Monday, Sept. 21.

Mount Si coach Darren Brown admitted that the game could have been better, even through the ‘Cats faced one of best Interlake teams he’s yet seen.

“We could’ve finished a lot more,” Brown said. “We need to pick up our play.”

Mount Si’s Hailey Conway got things started very quickly. She ran past the Saints defense five minutes into the game and fired the ball into the back of the net past the Interlake keeper.

“I really have to give credit to my teammates,” the junior said. “It was a perfect ball through. They set me up and if I didn’t finish it, I would’ve been letting them down.”

The game remained 1-0 into halftime despite offensive struggles by Mount Si.

A Wildcat defensive breakdown in the 47th minute allowed Interlake to get a breakaway, and they made no mistake, tying the game at 1-1. Shortly thereafter, in the 55th minute, Snead came back down and fired a shot past the Interlake keeper, which glanced from the crossbar and deflected off the goaltender into the net. It had the appearance of a “pinball” effect, but it was golden for Mount Si, who then held on the rest of the way for the victory.

“We were tied up, so I knew that someone had to get the game winner,” Snead said

The senior wants that delivery to be the start of a trend.

“I hope this is the beginning of all our winning,” she said.

In other action, last Thursday, Sept. 24, Mount Si traveled to Juanita and picked up a 1-1 draw with the Rebels. It was the ‘Cats’ first game on that field since last season’s title-clinching game. Laura Barnes scored the Mount Si goal.

Snead wants fans to see one thing the rest of the season —wins.

“They can look forward to that,” she said.

Mount Si plays Sammamish on Thursday, Oct. 1. The Totems boast one of the league’s top scoring threats in senior Anna Geldenhuys. Game time is 7:30 p.m.