Defenses dominated this week for South Whidbey’s girls soccer team.

The Falcons lost 0-1 to Lakewood on Tuesday then beat Coupeville 1-0 in a shootout Thursday.

“We played down to Coupeville’s level,” said Falcons head coach Ben Rusch.

Through the 40-minute halves, South Whidbey tried to spark its offense. Senior defender Brianna Haimes played upfield late in the game in an attempt to score. Moving a veteran defender to the offense can be risky, but South Whidbey’s coach wasn’t concerned.

“I wasn’t really worried we were going to get scored on,” Rusch said.

The game went into a five-minute extra period that remained scoreless, then another with the same outcome. That led to a shootout, which Rusch said is a coach’s nightmare. He tabbed his most-veteran players, including four seniors. Haimes scored first. Then sophomore Maia Sparkman scored. Senior Cortney Fredriksen missed the kick, as did senior defender Amanda Lutsock. Makenzie Peterson, a senior midfielder, scored the final kick to beat Coupeville 3-2 in the shootout.

It was a relief from the frustrating 0-1 loss to Lakewood at home earlier in the week. South Whidbey’s defense shutout the Cougars for 79 minutes, but it only took one goal to be defeated.

In the 70th minute, the Cougars scored on a corner kick that was tipped in, then kept South Whidbey’s forwards and mids at bay for the victory.