E-W soccer team headed to state semifinals

EDMONDS — Nothing like a clutch goal to calm an anxious soccer coach’s nerves.

The Edmonds-Woodway Warriors scored twice off corner kicks — the second coming in the 76th minute to break a nerve-racking 1-1 tie — and went on to beat Seattle Prep 2-1 Saturday in a girls 3A state quarterfinal game at Edmonds Stadium.

“I’m not going to be able to eat or drink for hours,” E-W coach Bill LeCompte said. “That is, by far, the best team we’ve seen all year and how we pulled that off I’m not sure. I can’t believe that we did it.”

E-W got the game-winning goal from Rylee Peterson, who scored off an assist by Ashleigh Fonsen. It was the second assist for Fonsen, who also set up E-W’s first goal in the 32nd minute. Isabella Meagher was on the other end of that corner kick to head the ball in and give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.

“It’s something that we focus on,” LeCompte said of the corner kicks. “We’ve really put an effort into it for years. Some days we know we’re going to be in a game like this, dead balls are the only thing that it may come down to and for us it did. It carried us in the first half and it carried us in the second half.”

Seattle Prep (18-2) tied the score 1-1 just three minutes into the second half. Laura Roberts took a shot from 25 yards out that spun away from Edmonds-Woodway goalkeeper Kiera Towell. It was the only blemish for Towell, who made several big saves in the second half as the Panthers continued to attack the Edmonds-Woodway (17-3-1) defense.

“When you have one of the best keepers in the state, it’s phenomenal the number of times she has to step up. And she does it,” LeCompte said.

Towell noted that making saves on tough shots late in the contest is one of her favorite parts of the game.

“I’m really nervous, but it’s also really exciting because I like making the big saves. … If they don’t take good shots, I can’t make big saves,” Towell said. “… That game was so amazing. It was intense but we played well. When we scored, everything got better.”

Seattle Prep spent a lot of time in front of the Edmonds-Woodway goal in the second half but was unable to find the back of the net. Panthers freshman Sophie Hirst had a few shots on goal but each was denied by Towell.

On the sidelines, LeCompte was in awe of Towell’s effort — and Edmonds-Woodway’s luck.

“The ball that she parried into the crossbar that bounced right back into her lap — I don’t know how that happened,” LeCompte said.

The Edmonds-Woodway coach said it was tough after Seattle Prep scored its goal, but he was proud of his team for responding in the second half with one of their own.

“I’m sitting on the sidelines and I’m not going to lie, it’s tough,” LeCompte said. “ … We tried to get a little more sound defensively and unfortunately, what it did was it took us away from being attack-minded, which we typically are. So then we’re bailing ourselves out the entire time. It’s a credit to our team to bounce back after we gave up that goal.”

The victory continued a historic season for the E-W girls soccer program, which had never been to the state quarterfinals. Now, the Warriors are guaranteed two more games.

“This is huge. It’s school history and we’re in the semifinals,” Towell said. “We’re one of the top four teams in the state. It’s incredible. Coming into this it was like, ‘OK, this could be my last game.’ Now I know that I have two more.”

Edmonds-Woodway faces either Bellevue or Arlington in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. Edmonds-Woodway has played both teams this season, falling 2-0 to Bellevue in a non-conference game on Sept. 11, and 4-0 to Arlington on Sept. 18.

“I’m going to go home and try to calm down,” LeCompte said. “We’ve played both of them. We know both of them. Whoever we see next is going to be quality whether it’s Arlington or Bellevue.”

At Edmonds Stadium

Goals—Isabella Meagher (E-W), Laura Roberts (SP), Rylee Peterson (E-W). Assists—Ashleigh Fonsen (E-W) 2. Goalkeepers—Seattle Prep: Kathryn Zepeda. Edmonds-Woodway: Kiera Towell. Records—Seattle Prep 18-2. Edmonds-Woodway 17-3-1.