OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies graduated nine seniors, four of which are playing community college ball. So it seems only fitting this year’s young soccer team is still searching for an identity in the early going.

The Huskies (2-2, 0-1 CWAC) dropped a 2-0 match to Ellensburg in their CWAC opener Tuesday at Huskie Stadium, but they went down slugging. They gave up a penalty kick in the 18th minute and another when Bulldogs striker Haylee Cantu sent a ball high to the far post just under the elbow with about 12 minutes remaining in the match.

“Last year we had so many amazing soccer players that had been playing together since they were freshmen. As a team, we are young, but we’re definitely improving,” said Othello defender Kaiden Quigley, who is just one of five seniors on this team. “We need to talk a lot more because we lost a lot of our defense from last year. Our keeper (Giselle Monroy) is junior, but this is her first real chance to play. She’s vocal and we’re trying to make the corrections we need to make now. We need to communicate better and I think that will come with time together.”

The Othello diamond defense held together fairly well against a seasoned Ellensburg group (3-3, 2-0 CWAC) with eight seniors. They were solid at the midfield, but they struggled up top from 30 yards out and in. They were out-muscled by the Bulldog defenders and even though they put 14 shots on goal to Ellensburg’s nine, they didn’t pose a real threat to senior goalkeeper Rose Sitton in net.

“We lost a lot of talent and it’s hard to put that role on these girls. It takes time with a freshman forward and a sophomore forward,” Othello coach Bernie Garza said. “They’re young and they get pushed around.

“Overall, we’re not a bad team. We were dominated against Ephrata (losing 8-0), but we should have beat these guys. It’s anybody’s game. We had two direct kicks that we should have buried, but these girls didn’t have to take those last year because we had seniors doing that job. We’re a work in progress.”

Monroy made two saves and Sitton made nine. Other than the penalty kick and the nice ball under the crossbar in the second half, it was fairly evenly matched.

“I think we’re working as a team better, we just need time on the field together,” Quigley said. “I think the juniors need to help right now. They are very good, but we need more dedication to the game, not just during practice, but game night too.”

The Huskies are back on the field Thursday when they travel to Prosser. They host Royal on Saturday at Huskie Stadium, beginning at noon.

Score by halves

Ellensburg 1 1 - 2

Othello 0 0 - 0

Shots on goal: Othello 16, Ellensburg 9

Saves: Othello 2, Ellensburg 9

E - Hayley Cantu (penalty kick) 18:17

E - Cantu (unassisted), 69:52