MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Pilchuck girls soccer team notched two victories all of last season.
Eight games into the Tomahawks’ 2015 campaign, they’ve already surpassed that total.
Olivia Lee scored twice and Bianca Acuario added another goal to lead Marysville Pilchuck to a 3-1 Wesco 3A North victory over crosstown rival Marysville Getchell Monday night at Marysville Getchell High School.
The victory was the third of the season for the Tomahawks (2-1-1 league, 3-4-1 overall).
“We’ve already (got more wins) than we did all last year,” said Marysville Pilchuck head coach Mike Bartley. “Right now, we’ve found our legs as far as scoring goes and our defense has improved a lot. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
The Tomahawks had to battle back after finding themselves in an early deficit. Marysville Getchell junior midfielder Lindsey Weikel scored on a free kick from about 35 yards away to give the Chargers the game’s first lead just 10 minutes in.
“That’s her fourth goal from set pieces from 30-plus (yards). It’s unbelievable,” said Marysville Getchell head coach Wayne Nash. “It’s on frame and it’s almost in every time. She won it in overtime on a free kick in the last game against Meadowdale. It’s a great weapon to have. Any time they foul our team within 30 yards they’re giving us a goal opportunity.”
The Chargers’ lead lasted seven minutes before Lee netted the first of her two goals after the ball deflected off a Marysville Getchell defender. The sophomore grabbed the rebound and shot from 25 yards out to tie the game 1-1.
“We all got a little irritated (after the Chargers’ goal) but then we all got focused and buckled down,” Lee said. “We were really pumped for this game and knew what we had to do to get the win.”
In the second half, Marysville Pilchuck’s offense continued to pressure Marysville Getchell. Lee almost had another goal in the 54th minute after trying to redirect a pass in front of the goal.
Three minutes later the Tomahawks took the lead in the 57th minute after Acuario scored on a corner kick by Jessica Moskowitz. Moskowitz kicked another corner in the 60th minute that found Lee for her second goal to provide a little insurance for Marysville Pilchuck.
“The thing about this team is if you look at who’s scored goals, it’s spread out pretty good,” Bartley said. “At any given moment we have people that can score up front.”
The Tomahawks coach said that with the game tied at halftime, he just tried to regroup and make sure his team continued to attack on set pieces.
Lee couldn’t remember exactly what Bartley said but knew it was effective.
“I don’t really remember what he said,” Lee said with a laugh, before adding: “It was inspiring.”
Weikel almost added two more goals for Marysville Getchell (2-1-0, 3-4-0) late in the contest. In the 65th minute another long free kick flew just over the crossbar and landed on the net on top of the goal. Weikel took another shot from 40 yards out in the 69th minute that hit the crossbar and bounced back onto the field.
“Her deadly range is 30-35 yards. She can put them on frame from 40-45,” Nash said. “At practice, her and I, have done a crossbar challenge from 40-45 out. And I try not to do it as much anymore because she beats me quite often now.”
Nash said his team struggled with little mistakes in the game against their crosstown rivals. With only three seniors on the Marysville Getchell roster, the Chargers boast a young squad.
“We’re a much more intense team than what we showed today,” said Nash, who used to coach with Bartley at Marysville Pilchuck before taking over at Marysville Getchell. “I think our youth showed a little. We maybe bought in a little too much into the hype of this game instead of just playing soccer. I thought it was a great battle.
“We always challenge them that, win or lose, it’s all about how well we played,” Nash continued. “We’re going to look at the game film and say, ‘How well did we play?’ We’ll learn a lot from this game.”
Marysville Pilchuck, which has won two consecutive league games after a 2-2 tie with Stanwood last Tuesday, is hoping to continue to add to its win total as the season progresses.
“This is a confidence booster,” Lee said. “In our preseason we struggled at times and in our last game against Mountlake Terrace we got our passing down. I think we’re just getting better and better.”
At Marysville Getchell H.S.
Goals–Lindsey Weikel (MG), Olivia Lee (MP) 2, Bianca Acuario (MP). Assists–Jessica Moskowitz (MP) 2. Goalkeepers–Marysville Pilchuck: Hanna Koehn. Marysville Getchell: Kaitlynn Knocke. Records–Marysville Pilchuck 2-1-1 league, 3-4-1 overall. Marysville Getchell 2-1-0, 3-4-0.
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