MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Christian Academy (MLCA) boys soccer season came to an end Saturday with a 6-1 first round state playoff loss to Waitsburg-Prescott.

The weather was less than ideal for a soccer match as the rain, wind and temperature wreaked havoc with the first half of play at Lions Field.

"It was freezing cold and the wet and wind kind of threw us for a loop," coach Jose Ramirez said. "But we did manage to score the only goal of the first half."

The Cardinals actually had the first chance to score, but a breakaway goal opportunity at 23 minutes was wide of its mark.

The Lions were unable to mount much of a scoring threat for the first 26 minutes of play until senior Nick Hocking launched a shot from 25-yards out that found the upper left corner of the net.

The goal gave MLCA a 1-0 lead, much to the delight of the home crowd.

"I think the two teams were pretty evenly matched with both having opportunities to score," Ramirez said. "Fortunately we were able to capitalize on a great shot by Nick."

It looked like the Lions lead would be short-lived as the Cardinals were awarded a penalty kick with 4:30 left in the first half. But the shot hit the top of the crossbar and was cleared by MLCA.

Waitsburg-Prescott had another chance to tie with two minutes to go, but a shot-on-goal by was wide right.

The rain continued fall as the half wound down and the Lions headed to the locker room up 1-0 at the break.

The weather improved in the second half of play, and so did the fortunes of the Cardinal as Waitsburg-Prescott reeled off six unanswered goals to run away with the match 6-1, and end the Lions season.

"I think we beat ourselves more than being beat by Waitsburg-Prescot," Ramirez said. "We made some mistakes and weren't communicating very well and their first goal kind of trickled by our keepers hands. Things kind of snowballed after that."

Down 3-1, midway through the second period of play Ramirez decided to put the team on the offensive, but unfortunately the decision backfired.

"We decided to pull our backfield up and press to try and generate some goals," Ramirez said. "The score at the time was irrelevant ... wouldn't have mattered if we down 3-1 or 6-1, we just needed to score and try and get the momentum back."

Despite being bounced out of post season play, Ramirez said the team had a great year.

"All-in-all, this team exceeded my expectations," he said. "Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win the division and we made it to the state playoffs."

The Lions will lose five starter to graduation, so Ramirez said the team will be in a rebuilding mode next season.

"We have a lot of good players ... team leaders graduating, so there will be some big shoes to fill," he said. "But that doesn't mean our expectations of wining the league championship will change."