The Wayland girls’ varsity soccer season came to a finish Thursday night at Mattawan High School in a 4-1 loss to three-time time defending state champion Gull Lake.

“The game was much closer than the final score indicated,” said coach Ben Sleeman, “and the Wildcats had plenty of great opportunities to score, but were a bit unfortunate not to find the back of the net when the game was close in the first half.”

The Blue Devils showed their experience and capitalized on the majority of their chances in the first half and were able to secure a 3-0 lead at halftime. The Wildcats, however, were not done playing, as Ali Cutler played a through ball to Madie Aylworth, who scored her first career playoff goal.

Paxton Granger had her best game of the season between the pipes, making 10 saves on 14 shots, a few of them tough saves down the stretch to keep the game within striking distance for the Wildcats.

The loss brings Wayland’s final overall season record to 9-11-2.