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WARDEN — Warden wasn’t the team dog piling onto the grass field at the end of 90 minutes of soccer plus a shootout, but the afternoon was not without accomplishment.

Warden took Kiona-Benton, a 2016 state tournament qualifier, to the brink before succumbing in a shootout 5-4.

For the third game of the season — Kiona-Benton’s second — there was a playoff atmosphere to an early South Central Athletic Conference East tilt.

“Last week we had so many games canceled that it was nice to finally have a very competitive game and to start off the season with that,” head coach Hannah Mohs said. “Because then it gives us areas where we need to improve and really focuses the girls and I feel like that gave my girls a lot more confidence, knowing that they went to state last year and they were competitive ... I’m very proud of them.”

Aubree Skone showcased her speed throughout the afternoon, finishing a 1-on-1 opportunity in front of Kiona-Benton keeper Micky Ramirez in the seventh minute. Skone recorded a hat trick, bringing her season total to 11 goals in three games.

“Aaliyah (Escamilla) feeds it to me a lot and that really helps a lot,” she said. “I couldn’t do it without them.”

Warden held a 1-0 advantage for most of the first half.

However, Kiona-Benton’s Ariel Lofton began to make her presence felt with under 10 minutes to play.

The sophomore striker used her speed to gain separation down the sidelines before crossing the mouth of the goal for a shot. Lofton burned the Cougars’ defense twice in one minute to pull the Bears ahead 2-1.

In what would become a recurring theme, Skone came back to tie the game four minutes later. Warden rallied from a one-goal deficit three times.

“What’s nice is I have a lot of leaders on the team that are very talkative to each other,” Mohs said. “My defense constantly talks to my midfield and my forwards are tracking back and that was something we really focused on yesterday and Monday because when we played against Wahluke we noticed we weren’t doing that.”

Lofton opened the second half with her third goal of the game in the 48th minute.

Skone played facilitator to Grace Richins for Warden’s next equalizer, sending a cross that Richins was able to get a diving toe on.

Lofton put Kiona-Benton ahead for the third time with her fourth and final goal in the 56th minute.

Skone and Richins played off each other once again to even the game in the 63rd minute. Skone passed to Richins whose point-blank shot was saved, but Skone followed the rebound to complete her hat trick and ensure the possibility of overtime.

“We have a defender that played midfield and she stepped up as our last defender so now Aubree doesn’t have to play there so that’s giving her more options to play offensive,” Mohs said.

Warden controlled the 10-minute overtime, but could not find the back of the net one more time.

Kiona-Benton made five of its six attempts, one more than Warden, in the shootout for the win.

“I think it’s going to help us in the future and we’re going to be able to beat them next time we play them at the end of the season,” Bailey Whitney said.

First half — 1, W, Skone (Escamilla), 7:00. 2, KB, Lofton, 32:00. 3, KB, Lofton, 33:00. 4, W, Skone, 36:00.

Second half — 5, KB, Lofton, 48:00. 6, W, Richins (Skone), 52:00. 7, KB, Lofton, 56:00. 8, W, Skone, 63:00.