MARYSVILLE — The entire roster of varsity Tomahawks had a chance to show their skills in the Thursday, Sept. 12, nonleague match against Archbishop Murphy, but a few defensive woes held them to a 3-1 loss against the Wildcats, coached by M-P head coach Paul Bartley’s brother, Michael Bartley.

“Well, he has a really good team and we knew that,” said Paul Bartley. “We were working on our defense, that was the emphasis. We played all of our players before halftime so everybody would get experience.”

The Wildcats scored two goals in the first half and a third in the first three minutes of the second half. The Tomahawks scored a goal in the second quarter, with senior forward Amanda Klep making the goal and senior forward Mackenzie Nolte assisting.

“In the second half we played a better,” said Paul Bartley. “We emphasized the middle of field more defensively, and we put some personnel in there that hadn’t played there before and understood what we had to do.”

It was the second time that the Bartley brothers faced off as coaches, and the second defeat for M-P, though it’s all just healthy family rivalry.

“We get along. I watch his games when I can and he watches mine when he can. We talk strategy, and what we learned about each other’s team. Right now I am focused on what we want to do this year, and I’ll worry about facing him again when the summer rolls back around,” laughed Bartley.

The Tommies faced Everett on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at home at 7:30 p.m., though the game was after press deadline. Marysville learned from their issues against the Wildcats and hope to apply a more focused defense to the match against the Seagulls.

“We changed our formation again and so we hope to see if that rectifies our issues on defense,” said Paul Bartley.

The girls face Oak Harbor in an away game on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m.