A bevy of shots on goal were unleashed by the Issaquah Eagles against the Gig Harbor Tides in the Class 4A girls soccer state quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, none of their shots found the back of the net. Gig Harbor’s Leahi Manthei scored following a scrum in the middle of the field after a corner-kick in the 46th minute, giving her team a 1-0 lead. The Tides wouldn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the game despite a barrage of shots on goal from the Eagles in the final 40 minutes of play as Gig Harbor hung on for a 1-0 victory on Nov. 15 in Purdy. Gig Harbor head coach Dani States said her team’s relied consistently on its defense throughout the 2014 season and they came through for her team in the clutch.

“All season long we’ve had a very composed defense. They are not frantic and they can handle the pressure,” States said. “Emery (Wallerich) is a great leader back there and Jordan Bertram (goalie) is the same away. They are not fazed by pressure and if anything goes haywire they bounce right back. We handled the pressure well.”

Eagles’ head coach Tom Bunnell said the majority of his team’s shots were from a further distance than usual due to Gig Harbor’s stingy defense.

“We just couldn’t get the ball deep enough into the attacking third of the field. We were taking shots from far away and just never got a chance to get the combination plays close to the box. We were forced to play from out wide. They (Gig Harbor) did a good job of being relentless on defense,” Bunnell said. “They (Gig Harbor) got one goal and that was the difference.”

States said the way the Tides scored their lone goal was somewhat of an anomaly.

“We’ve struggled regarding our corner kicks so it was nice to finally finish off one that made all the difference for us,” she said. “The movement of our players off the ball created that opportunity.”

Not even a loss in the Class 4A quarterfinals could put a damper on the Eagles memorable 2014 season. Issaquah went undefeated during the regular season.

“It was a great group of girls and this was a great team that had a great season,” Bunnell said. “It’s sad its over but we just have to lick our wounds and remember all of the good stuff. We weren’t as sharp as we had been in our last few games but that doesn’t take away all of the good memories. It’s just a bummer.”

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com