ARLINGTON — The Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer team continued its march to, perhaps, another Class 3A state championship on Friday night with a 1-0 victory over Arlington in the District 1 championship game.
It was the 18th consecutive match without a loss for the Warriors, who dropped their season opener to Mercer Island but have since won every game except for two ties.
On a rainy night at Arlington High School, the Warriors got the eventual winning goal about 11 minutes into the second half on a long pass into the box from midfielder Gabby Clark. The ball reached forward Ellie Shull a moment before she collided with Arlington goalkeeper Kat Sanchez, caromed off Shull’s leg and trickled into the net.
“It was a great ball in (from Clark),” Shull said. “It was right there. I didn’t think it was going to go in (because) the goalie was coming at me, but then it went in.”
“Arlington is a heck of a team,” Warriors coach Bill LeCompte. “The last three or four years, anytime we’ve met up it’s been a tough night for both of us to play against each other. So I figured it was going to be a tough match and it definitely was. We were fortunate to win it.”
“It was a great match,” agreed Eagles coach Nathan Davis. “Like I told the girls (after the game), I think you’re looking at two teams that are probably top eight in the state. So we knew it was going to be intense and it was a super intense match the whole time. It was just a great soccer game.”
Both teams move on to the state playoffs, and both teams appear to be likely contenders for a state title.
As for Edmonds-Woodway, “we’d love to be back where we were last year, but we understand … it’s not going to be easy,” LeCompte said. “So we’ll see what we can do.”
After the season-opening defeat, Shull said, “I was like ‘Wow, if this is what the season’s going to be like, it’s going to be rocky.’ But we just got better and better, and we’ve just kept growing as a team.”
At John C. Larson Stadium
Goals—Ellie Shull (E-W). Goalkeepers—Arlington: Kat Sanchez. Edmonds-Woodway: Hannah Hicks. Records—Arlington 15-4-0 overall. Edmonds-Woodway 16-1-2.
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