Winning trend

MOSES LAKE — The Mavericks’ second clean sheet of the season came Saturday, defeating West Valley (Yakima) 2-0 on Saturday afternoon at home.

Moses Lake held the Rams to just one shot on goal in the second half, which came during second-half stoppage time.

“Our defense has been playing great,” Moses Lake head coach Alysha Overland said. “We always talk to them before, (saying) ‘It’s shutout time, it’s shutout time!’ They come with a smile, and they’re like “We’re ready!’ The communication between our defense has been great, we can see the chemistry building in all positions. We have a lot of confidence in our defense to hold down that line.”

The first goal of the afternoon came off the foot of Maverick freshman Lindsey Davis, who ran through the Ram defense and shot to the right of the outstretched West Valley goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute.

“I saw open space in front of me, I sprinted and Ruby Nishida passed me the ball through,” Davis said. “Shot to the corner.”

Davis’ goal gave Moses Lake the lead after the first 40 minutes.

“It definitely gave us the momentum to keep pushing through that second half,” Overland said. “We try to give them that zero-zero mentality going into the second half just so they know the game isn’t set, there’s still 40 minutes on the clock. We’ve got to push through and work hard the entire time.”

The Mavs came out strong on the attack, taking early shots on the West Valley net in both halves. Moses Lake had four shots within the first 10 minutes of the second half, finishing with 12 shots in the final 40 minutes.

“We really try to tell them ‘Get into them, get on them in the first five (minutes),” Overland said. “Foot on the gas the entire time. The first five (minutes) is where the tempo gets set, so we harp on them for that.”

Moses Lake extended its lead on a goal by junior Meadow Saenz in the 48th minute, shooting from the left corner of the penalty area and over top of the leaping West Valley goalkeeper.

“I saw quite a bit of space, had an opportunity,” Saenz said. “I shot it, aimed for a corner and it fell through.”

Moses Lake is now 3-4 on the season, posting a 3-1 record in Columbia Basin Big 9 games. The Mavs defeated Sunnyside 3-0 on Sept. 19 before Saturday’s win over West Valley and split games with Eisenhower (2-1 win) and Eastmont (2-1 loss) the week before.

“We really used the Sunnyside game as motivation going into this one,” Overland said. “At practice, we always say we celebrate the win and then we prepare for the next team the next day, so that’s what it came down to this week. We put in a lot of hard work, a lot of good preparation and the girls just wanted it.”

Up next for the Mavs is a road game against Davis on Thursday at 5 p.m.

“I’m super pumped to come out with the win, especially against West Valley,” Saenz said. “They’re a good team.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

WV: 0-0 0

ML: 1-1 0