The Wayland girls’ varsity soccer team opened its season Thursday evening with a 4-1 nonleague loss at Otsego.

“(It was) a tough first night for the Lady Wildcats,” lamented coach Ben Sleeman.

The host Bulldogs scored first, but Wayland responded with a goal to tie it after Amanda Brown was taken down in the box and senior captain Brinley Nieuwenhuis converted the penalty kick. Unfortunately, Otsego was able to retake the lead by following up a rebounded shot to score, making it 2-1 at the half.

“The second half was not kind to Wayland, as we saw they game slip away late with Otsego scoring twice more; once on a penalty kick, and the final off a free kick, to seal the game.”

Sophomore goal keeper Rachel Wienclaw came up with 6 saves on 10 shots

The Wildcats travel to West Catholic Monday for their final game before spring break. Kickoff will be at 6:45 p.m.