Moses Lake finishes first run through CBBN with 5-0 loss to Wenatchee

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake’s first run through the Columbia Basin Big Nine was filled with peaks and valleys.

Come-from-behind win over Eastmont to pull into a tie for first place — peak.

6-2 loss at Davis earlier in the week — valley.

Moses Lake took another dip Thursday with a 5-0 loss to rival Wenatchee. The Panthers stayed atop the CBBN standings, while the Chiefs (3-3, 4-5) settled into fourth place.

“Every game that we’ve played even against those three (Wenatchee, Davis, Sunnyside) we’ve had halves — one of the two halves has been really solid and we’ve played them pretty much equal or we’ve won,” head coach Rian Allred said. “Now we’ve got to put two halves together. That’s really the key. We’ve got to find some increased consistency.”

Wenatchee imposed its will on Moses Lake from the opening whistle, scoring three goals within the first 20 minutes.

Alex Medina put the Panthers on the board in the fifth minute by getting a toe on a pass into the box. Jason Shephard scored four minutes later, beating Moses Lake goalie Eddie Reyes to the bottom left corner of the net. Luis Navarette ended the spurt with a shot that traveled from the left side of the field into the bottom right corner of the net.

“We had a couple opportunities that we missed that could’ve affected the game,” Allred said. “The game of soccer, more than anything, it’s hard to score if you miss some key opportunities and it had a big impact on moving the game away from our momentum... The biggest thing was, though, was our back line that we’re working on. We made an adjustment in the second half. Our back line got flat and it allowed them to exploit the middle because we got flat.”

One opportunity Moses Lake missed was a shot by Isaac Martinez in the 20th minute that clanged off the right post.

Wenatchee capped its four-goal first half with a penalty kick by Miguel Viramontes.

The second have played more even, but Moses Lake missed out on three chances to change the complexion of the game: a free kick by Saul Maciel hit the cross-bar, Anthony Cortez missed a shot directly in front of Wenatchee’s goal and Erik Vega maneuvered past the Panthers’ defense on a run only to miss wide right.

Shephard added one more goal for the visitor’s in the 63rd minute.

“You’ve got to put those away and we didn’t,” Allred said. “But the great thing is we did respond much, much better in the second half. I was really proud. Now we’ve got to figure out how to put two halves together, If we start putting two halves together this team’s going to be special.”