There were some tense moments this season, but the Bothell High boys soccer team overcame them. What once was a brief dark spell turned bright with victory and positive attitudes all around.

Following the team’s dominating 2-0 victory over Issaquah High last Tuesday in the 4A Kingco playoffs, you’d never know that the Cougars (9-6-3 overall) had dropped a 6-0 loss to Garfield earlier in the season.

However, four days later, Bothell fell to Skyview (Vancouver), 3-0, and finished up one win short of the state tournament.

Still, there were good thoughts on tap.

“We’ve got our passing down and our defense has really stepped up since that Garfield game,” said senior forward Cole Correll, who netted Bothell’s first goal against Issaquah; Yordan Rivera notched the second on an 18-yard free kick. “It’s just team bonding, team workmanship. And our three sophomores (Alex Gosselin, Brandon Swanson and Jeff Smith), they really know how to play and they’ve come up huge.”

Added Issaquah coach Jason Licthenberger: “They defend well. They have a lot of players who can win 50-50s and they won all the knock-downs. They just showed they wanted it a little bit more than us.”

Gosselin and junior Russell Kilgannon helped put the clamps on Issaquah’s Quinn Grisham — the 4A Kingco player of the year — and his fellow Eagles to secure the victory. The two Cougars played it smooth at times, but also got rough and tumble with the opposition.

“It’s pretty good, we’re playing together, talking to each other, feeding off each other — working hard,” said the mohawked Kilgannon.

Gosselin was all smiles as he headed for the Pop Keeney Field parking lot after holding Grisham scoreless.

“I felt confident the whole game, even before we scored. We had them on their heels the whole way,” he said. “I’m aggressive and try to keep my head (when guarding Grisham).

“It’s preparation, and the people on the bench, too — we get pretty good support from those guys.”