In a battle between two teams searching for their first win in 4A Kingco play, there was no doubt as to who would prevail as the Redmond Mustangs stifled the Garfield Bulldogs at home, 4-1.

The game could have been more of a blowout as Redmond challenged Garfield goalkeeper Savannah Billedo for the entire 80 minutes of play by firing a total of 20 shots on goal.

“We’ve been playing really well, but we’ve run into some bad luck a lot of times, and lots of injuries,” said Mustang head coach Pat Scheibe. “It was really nice to roll out a game where we felt like we controlled it from start to finish. It was fun to get the win.”

With the victory, the Mustangs improved to 1-4-0 in league play and 2-4-3 overall.

REDOUBLED EFFORTS

The Mustangs dominated time of possession in the first half, but had enormous difficulty finishing off a goal.

A total of 11 shots were fired towards the Garfield net, with only one going in, an 18th minute point-blank shot by Andrea Larson off a great feed by Kristin Hayman.

After holding off the Bulldogs for the remainder of the half, the Mustangs suffered a heartbreaker as Bulldogs’ senior Lashonne Wells emerged from a sea of purple jerseys in front of the goal box and booted in the equalizer just before time expired, in the 40th minute of play.

“It was a challenge that we did give up that (goal),” Scheibe admitted. “But it was great to see the girls redouble their efforts… and add three more goals.”

With their backs to the wall, the Mustangs came out with a vengeance in the second half.

First it was Danielle Biermann who received a perfect cross from freshman forward Sierra Bilginer on the right wing for a score, and then 10 minutes later it was Bilginer again who fed Elizabeth Zitnik to put the Mustangs up 3-1.

“She’s doing really well,” Scheibe said of Bilginer. “She’s able to come out and put a lot of pressure on the back lines, and it’s been fun watching her.”

Finally, in the 68th minute, the icing on the cake came when Larson followed up a Hayman shot that Billedo made a great save on for the team’s fourth goal, a season high for the ‘Stangs.

“We played more balls through, which helped us, and we had more people in the box when we were crossing so we could finish them faster,” explained Bilginer on her team’s second-half offensive adjustment.

Added Scheibe, “What we always focus on is to play our game, and create the things that we can do. Sometimes we’ll get caught playing in the type of style that the other team is playing, and we try to avoid that.”

LOADED LEAGUE

In defense of the Mustangs’ 0-4-0 league record entering Tuesday’s game, the early part of their schedule was as stacked as can be.

In fact, Bothell, Eastlake, Woodinville and Issaquah, the first four teams that Redmond faced this year, are all still undefeated and have a combined record of 16-0-2.

“Our front end of the season was loaded… and we have Skyline at the end, so it’s just one game (at a time),” said Scheibe on his team’s focus for the rest of the season. “It’s all about Ballard now, for Thursday, so that’s where we’re at.”

Although there are certainly no gimmes in 4A Kingco, with a somewhat softer schedule coming up for the Mustangs, the team has high hopes to make a late-season run and sneak into playoff action.

“It was a big win,” Bilginer said. “We needed to win this game, and I think we played really well to earn it.”

Redmond takes on Ballard (1-4-0, 1-7-3) Thursday evening at Ballard High School.