The Lobos did everything right. But in the end the Vikings outscored them and outran them 3-2 on Friday afternoon on the Lobos home turf.

“We dominated the game in possession; we played very fluidly. We just got outscored,” Melanie Weber, coach for the Lobos, said. “We were training a new goalie as Arlen (Coiley) had broken his leg on Tuesday against Grace Academy. Our positioning and containment was good, we kept the ground game going so we controlled more of the game. It was just a loss when we had to take our goalie out. This requires a huge adjustment in our defense.”

And Orcas came out weak in the first half, failing to stop aggressive Lobo passing and losing possession of the ball as the Lobos kept up a forward push that frustrated the Vikings.

“Our first half wasn’t that great,” Vikings coach Matt Stolmeier said. “We were very sloppy defensively and in maintaining possession. We did score at the end of the first half and that sparked everyone forward.”

Christopher Ghazel scored for the Vikings right before halftime, nailing a great left-footed shot off a cross from Fernando Arevalo, which got past the Lobos goalie and into the net.

Ghazel scored again early in the second half, drilling the ball into the side netting before the Lopez goalie could react. Ghazel also had an assist on the third goal for Orcas, which was scored by Rhys Thompson, a freshman.

“That was another great left-footed shot. We’ve been working on getting shots off quicker and our practice paid off,” Stolmeier said. “The Lopez defense did well against us. They have some fast players back there. They held pretty strong on us; they outran our forwards so we had to move the ball around better and we were forced to find an open player rather than man-on. We’re trying to play more strategically.”

Orcas used more finesse in the second half and harried Lopez in their territory with a more aggressive forward push.

“We had just come off of a great game against North Sound Christian on Tuesday,” Stolmeier said, “And we ended up in a draw with them, 2-2.”

Last year North Sound Christian trounced the Vikings 5-0.

“I knew the guys were nervous before that game. We started off slow and disorganized, but in the remaining 50 minutes of the game, we really controlled the ball.”

In play that day, Alevaro sent a beautiful cross over to Miles McCloskey who headed it into the net perfectly for a score, but the official called it back.

“It was just great technique. We kept it up and then Rhys Thompson chipped it past the goal keeper from 20 yards out, and Fernando had a great goal as well from a pass off a defensive player, a long, long cross. It was just a spirited game.”

And on Friday, Lopez’ sattack was far more aggressive in the second half, but Orcas got the scores.

“I was frustrated with the containing and marking the other players,” Weber said. “We tend to fix weaknesses very quickly. Every time we play a game it exposes different areas we can work on. We outplayed them. They just definitely outscored us.”

Lopez plays La Conner in a non-league game at Lopez on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Orcas plays on Tuesday against Providence Christian in an away game at Everett.

Orcas soccer has not played a league game yet. Their first league game of the season is against Shoreline Christian at Shoreline on Thursday, Oct. 8.