Monday was a tale of two halves for the Siuslaw Vikings soccer team, which dropped a 6-1 decision at home to Sky-Em League leader Cottage Grove.

The Vikings host Marist at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to kick off the second half of league play.

"We played good soccer, we played as a team, and we won the second half," Siuslaw coach Londi Tomaro said.

"I am incredibly proud of our team tonight."

The Lions scored all their goals in the first half, taking 25 shots and forcing Vikings senior goalkeeper Kayden Lane to make 14 saves.

Cottage Grove took another 20 shots in the second half, but the Vikings defense shut the Lions out while Lane made another 9 saves.

"Our team had fantastic defense in the second half, and continued to press on the attack," Tomaro said, "stringing together passes and working the ball up the field to create chances in front of the net."

The Vikings were rewarded late in the second half when sophomore forward Dylan Jensen scored their lone goal.

"Dylan capitalized on a through pass to get past the defense and shot, putting the ball in the far corner of the goal," Tomaro said.

The shutout and the goal in the second half were good outcomes for the Vikings, only in their second season of varsity play.

"The team really stepped up their game and had an impressive showing against a highly ranked team," Tomaro said. 

"Our team kept their heads up and persisted through a tough game to play to a better result against Cottage Grove than most of the teams they've faced this season."

The Lions share first place with Marshfield through the first half of league play at 4-0-1. Cottage Grove is 5-2-2 overall.

Marist is 3-2 in league, while Junction City and Elmira are 1-3-1. Siuslaw is 0-5 in league, 1-8 overall.

In the junior varsity match, Siuslaw and Cottage Grove fought to a 2-2 standoff. Eli Tattershall and Landon Curley each had a goal for Siuslaw.

SIUSLAW VARSITY SCHEDULE
Record: 1-8 overall, 0-5 in Sky-Em League
Aug. 26 — at Newport 8, Siuslaw 0
Sept. 1 — at Siuslaw 4, Creswell 1 (Ray Brito Xilot 2, Dylan Jensen, Jason Garcia)
Sept. 6 — at North Bend, canceled
Sept. 13 — Tillamook 5, at Siuslaw 0
Sept. 16 — Pleasant Hill 9, Siuslaw 1 (Dante Galli)
Sept. 20 — at Marist 9, Siuslaw 1 (Jason Garcia)
Sept. 22 — Marshfield 8, at Siuslaw 2 (Jason Garcia, Chuck Nelson)
Sept. 27 — at Junction City 3, Siusla 1 (Jason Garcia)
Sept. 29 — at Elmira 2, Siuslaw 1 (Jason Garcia)
Oct. 4 — Cottage Grove 6, at Siuslaw 1 (Dylan Jensen)
Wednesday, Oct. 6 — Marist, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 11 — at Marshfield, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 13 — Junction City, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 18 — Elmira, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 20 — at Cottage Grove, 6:30 p.m.

VARSITY ROSTER
Seniors
  3 Kassandra Dietrich, defender
  7 Maisie Jones, forward
11 Kayden Lane, goalkeeper/midfielder
15 Imanol Pelayo, midfielder/forward
17 Jason Garcia, midfielder, co-captain
18 Jerrel Brumley, defender
20 Dante Galli, forward/goalkeeper
Juniors
  5 Alex Goss, defender
13 Noel Hernandez, midfielder, co-captain
16 Lucian Murphy, defender
Sophomores
  1 Eli Tattershall, midfielder
  2 Braxton Hulet, forward
  4 Brayden Linton, midfielder/defender
  6 Derrick Vanduch, forward/goalkeeper
  8 Dylan Jensen, forward
Freshmen
10 Ray Brito Xilot, midfielder

JV ROSTER
Sophomores
Ethan Jagoe, midfielder/forward, co-captain
Bryan Santos, defender/midfielder
Taylor Spencer, forward
Nickelus Wuebkes-Terrebrood, defender
Freshmen
Landon Curley, forward
Isaac Glowacki, forward/midfielder
Sylas Gorder goalkeeper/defender
Brandon Jagoe, goalkeeper/forward
Sawyer Larson, midfielder/defender
Nicholas May, forward
Aidan Murphy, defender/midfielder, co-captain
Chuck Nelson, forward
Berkley Tregoning, defender