Moses Lake blanks Ike

MOSES LAKE - The Chiefs pulled within a game of first place in Big 9 league soccer action with a 2-0 win over the Cadets at home Saturday afternoon.

"This was a big win for us," coach Bill Bertram said. "It was probably the best team effort all year."

Rhen Reilly (Sean Cotton) put Moses Lake on the board at the 27th minute of play to put the Chiefs up 1-0.

"We made some adjustments on the fly as we had a couple players dinged up," Bertram said. "I moved Rehn to the midfielder position and he made his time count as he took a beautiful cross pass from Sean and scored from about 10-yards out."

The score held up through the mid-way point of the second half of action until a ball struck by Saul Maciel (Jonny Cortez) found the back of the Eisenhower net at the 68-minute mark to push the home teams' lead to 2-0.

"The kid (Saul Maciel) is a real hard worker and has earned added playing time," Bertram said. "He's only a 9th grader, so he has a lot of good years ahead of him."

The Chiefs keepers Grant Bruneel and Ryan Finley recorded two saves each for the match. The Cadets Tony Madera had five.

The win over Eisenhower puts Moses Lake at 4-2 in the league standings and 7-3 overall, and lands the Chiefs into a second place tie with Davis and one game back of first place Eastmont with four games left in the regular season.

Moses Lake is back on the pitch tomorrow when the team hits the road to Wenatchee to match up with the Panthers at the Apple Bowl.

The Chiefs are at home Saturday for a game with Davis, then play Eastmont at home April 30 in a match that could decide the league championship.