MONTESANO — In this case, a tie was cause for celebration from a Montesano standpoint.

The Bulldogs played reigning state 1A champion Overlake to a scoreless draw in a non-league girls soccer match Saturday at Rottle Field.

Although Zoee Lisherness and Anna Ayres managed a couple of first-half runs, the normally attack-minded Bulldogs (5-1-1) played defense for the majority of the contest.

Considering the caliber of opposition, Monte coach Fidel Sanchez had prepared for that possibility.

“That was the plan. We had to make sure we were tough defensively,” Sanchez said. “Overlake does a really good job of finding space.”

Bulldog goalkeeper Haylee Perkinson made several fine saves. For the most part, however, the Bulldog defenders were able to limit the Owls from Redmond to long shots.

Junior defender Katie Granstrom, who had several fine clearing passes, was selected as Monte’s Player of the Match. Lisherness and senior defender Lindsey Hutchings also broke up some Overlake attacks.

Overlake, which has only two seniors on the roster, did find the net with a Keely Likosky corner kick during stoppage time in the second half. But the goal was nullified when the Owls were deemed to have interfered with Perkinson’s ability to play the ball.

“We have a really good goalkeeper,” Sanchez explained. “If they score from outside the box, we’ll give it to them. We knew we had to play a perfect game defensively and we did.”

The Bulldogs open Evergreen 1A League play Tuesday at Elma.