LA GRANDE — The La Grande girls soccer team stayed ahead of the competition, taking a 2-0 decision from Ontario on Thursday, Oct. 19, in La Grande.

The two teams played to the half without a goal finding the net despite La Grande spending time on the offensive side of the field.

“We came out aggressive, but just could not get the shots off like we wanted,” La Grande head coach Chris Gianandrea said. “It was back and forth the whole first half.”

The first goal of the game for La Grande resulted from an Ontario mental error. After some verbal discussion with an official drew a yellow card on an Ontario player, an immediate second yellow and red card came after the Ontario player kicked the ball in anger. Using the penalty and a free kick, Kaitlyn Brock put the first score on the board, finding the left corner of the goal on a shot of 25 yards.

“Ontario’s keeper kept them in the game,” Gianandrea said. “We had multiple shots where she made terrific saves.”

The second goal, later in the half, came off the foot of Rowan Evans. The initial shot by Paige Allen was deflected, but Evans’ follow up slid past the Ontario defense.

“Like the first game against Ontario, this one also felt like a playoff game,” Gianandrea said.

La Grande (9-3-0 overall, 4-1-0 4A Greater Oregon League) now prepare to avenge the team’s lone league loss of the season. La Grande travels for the final regular season game to Pendleton on Oct. 24 to take the field against the Buckaroos (5-6-1 overall, 3-2-0 4A Greater Oregon League). On Oct. 5, Pendleton and handed La Grande a 1-0 loss, the lone league defeat for the Tigers.

“A win gives us the outright league title without having to go to tiebreakers,” Gianandrea said. “We just want to make it clean we are the league champions.”