Things looked bleak for the Bellevue Wolverines girls soccer team at halftime in a 3A KingCo matchup against the Lake Washington Kangaroos.

Lake Washington scored two first-half goals (Emma Escbach scored in the 10th minute, Taylor Welle scored in the 27th minute), taking a 2-0 lead at halftime.

The Wolverines never buckled despite the deficit.

Bellevue cut Lake Washington’s lead to 2-1 on a Grace Nesbitt goal in the 52nd minute. With less than two minutes left in regulation, Bellevue tied the game at 2-2 on a goal from Wolverines junior team captain Courtney Serres.

The game went to overtime and neither team scored in the two five-minute overtime sessions as the Wolverines and Kangaroos battled to a 2-2 tie on Sept. 13 at Bellevue Memorial Stadium.

Lake Washington head coach Ashton Staudacher remained upbeat despite the draw against one of their biggest rivals. Lake Washington currently has an overall record of 3-1-1 at this juncture of the 2018 season.

“It is always a fun game. We love playing Bellevue. You know you are going to get a good game of soccer. Peter is a great coach and always has a good game plan,” Staudacher said of Bellevue coach Peter Cochran. “They (Bellevue) came out and battled. One of their athletes (Serres) scored a stellar goal off of a corner kick. I told our girls there is not a whole lot you can do to defend that. Kudos to that kid. We came out and battled and gave it everything we had. That is all I can ask for.”

Staudacher expects her team to contend for a 3A KingCo title in late October.

“We definitely want to win KingCo. It is not out of reach,” she said.

Cochran was thrilled to see his team rebound after a shaky first half. The Wolverines overall record during the 2018 season thus far is 0-2-2.

“Our team showed me something and showed themselves something. We showed a lot of grit, which is required to come back like we did. Lake Washington is traditionally a very strong team and they will be there (playoff hunt) at the end of the season,” Cochran said. “I could not be prouder of the girls for how they battled back and tied the game. Every time we play against Lake Washington, it is a very tightly contested game. We haven’t started as strong as we have in years past and we needed a game where some things started going right for us.”