Time of possession was strongly in Montesano’s favor Thursday night. Eventually, so was the final score.

Breaking open a tight contest with two second-half goals, the Bulldogs blanked Aberdeen, 3-0, in a non-league girls soccer contest at Rottle Field.

Samantha Stanfield scored twice and Lexi Lovell once for the Bulldogs (1-1).

Thanks to a flurry of Aberdeen attempts against Bulldog reserves in the closing minutes of each half, shots on-goal were relatively close (Monte owning a 15-12 advantage). But Montesano starters maintained possession for perhaps 90 percent of the opening 30 minutes.

“That’s one of the things we’ve been talking about, getting more aggressive without fouling,” Montesano coach Mike Malpass said. “They were stringing three, four, five passes together. They looked good when they were doing that.”

Aberdeen goalkeeper Reagan Glanz initially kept the Bulldogs at bay by twice blocking Stanfield close-in tries and also denying Lovell on a breakaway in the first 18 minutes.

Stanfield, however, fought off two defenders just inside the penalty area and buried about a 15-yard shot in the upper left-hand corner of the net to open the scoring at the 22-minute mark.

After launching only one long-range shot in the first 35 minutes, Aberdeen (1-1) mustered a couple of good scoring chances late in the first half.

Moments after overshooting the goal on about a 10-yard attempt, AHS senior forward Tayler Housden took a well-executed through pass from defender Taylor Coker and burst in on goalkeeper Haylee Perkinson with about three minutes remaining. Perkinson came out of the net to deflect the shot wide.

The Bobcats remained on the attack early in the second half. But just when it appeared the momentum might be shifting, Montesano midfielder Hannah Quinn made a run up the left sideline and crossed a pass to Lovell, who connected from inside the penalty area in the 47th minute.

Six minutes later, the Bulldogs were awarded a free kick on a foul outside the box.

Stanfield threaded the needle on about a 25-yard howitzer, finding about a six-inch opening between a leaping Glanz and the roof of the net.

Montesano junior Noelle Tingey took over the goalkeeping chores from Perkinson with 13 minutes remaining and completed the shutout with a couple of fine saves of her own.

Aberdeen starters Mackenzie Arnold (quadricep) and Nayeli Morris (ankle) were sidelined due to injuries.

“We got beat up in the Elma game and had to reconfigure our strategy a little bit,” first-year Bobcat head coach Ryan Housden said.

Malpass cited the play of Stanfield, Perkinson, Quinn and defenders Morgan Kersker and Hallie Stubb.

Montesano also won the JV match, 7-1.

Both teams returned to action Saturday. Aberdeen hosted Elma in an afternoon contest at Stewart Field. Montesano faced Northwest of Seattle in a contest at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila.

Thunderbirds 3, Bulldogs 1

TUMWATER — Montesano was tested from start to finish as Tumwater defeated the Bulldogs in a non-league match at Tumwater on Sept. 6.

The 2A Thunderbirds added marks in the 30th and 35th minutes to take a 2-0 lead into halftime and tacked on one more goal early in the second half.

Montesano’s lone goal came from Peyton Poler in the 78th minute. The junior stole the ball and fired a shot on net from just outside the box.

“We learned a lot about all the players tonight after the big turnover from last year,” Monte coach Mike Malpass said. “We have a lot of fresh faces coming in and we were happy with their performance.”

Malpass cited Poler and goalkeeper Haylee Perkinson for solid efforts throughout the match.

Tumwater won the JV match, 3-1.