The Mount Si girls soccer team looks to be on the upswing.

After a rough start, the Wildcats looked to get the second half of their league schedule started on the right foot last Thursday, Oct. 8, against the Liberty Patriots.

And though the score didn’t reflect it, Mount Si may have done just that — but with a price to pay.

The Wildcats and Patriots ended in a 0-0 draw at Liberty High School, in a game that became more about officials than the solid play on the field by Mount Si. The team held up despite the distractions.

“This is Mount Si soccer tonight. We’re back,” said Wildcat coach Darren Brown. “The result was a tie, but man, we had that intensity to us. I’m really proud of the girls’ efforts.”

Goalkeepers Carly Weidenbach and Marika Loudenback shared in the shutout.

“Definitely, our defense is MVP all around. Forwards, everyone, they were just solid,” Weidenbach said.

Referees called several cards on the Wildcats, and assessed ‘red card’ ejections to two of Mount Si’s assistant coaches following arguments over calls.

The first red card happened in the first minute of play, when Brown’s lead assistant coach, Ben Tomlisson, was shown the door by the referees. Following the game’s end, one of Brown’s other assistant coaches, Tom Burford, was himself assessed a red card after asking for the name of the official who was primarily responsible for the cards against Mount Si, the lead assistant referee in the contest. There was a yellow card also assessed to Wildcat junior midfielder Alexis Pearlstein in the second half.

Both Tomlisson and Burford, as a result of their red cards, will also serve one-game suspensions; those took place Tuesday, Oct. 13, against Mercer Island, barring an appeal.

“We just want to play,” Weidenbach said. “He calls what he calls. All we can do is just move on, take the high road and not argue with him. We actually did a good job of that tonight. We didn’t let that get to our heads.” Liberty was not immune to the cards, either, as sophomore Kimberly Fry was assessed a yellow card in the 72nd minute by the officials as the result of a rough foul of a Mount Si player by Fry which occurred in front of the Wildcat bench and outside the field of play. The Mount Si player was briefly down and returned to the game later. Wildcat fans and the bench protested, looking for a red card against Fry, but to no avail.

Pearlstein said the team’s performance may have been a turning point in the season.

“This was the first game that we’ve played that we can honestly say that we left everything on the field,” she said. “We can all leave this game with a good feeling.”

Pearlstein credited a speech given by senior co-captain Taylor Robbins after an Oct. 1 loss to Sammamish with helping change the team mindset.

“I think everyone needed a wake up call after that game,” Pearlstein said.

In other action last week, the Wildcats fell last Tuesday, Oct. 6, to Bellevue, 2-0. Two second half goals lifted the Wolverines in that match.