EDMONDS — For a high school athlete, there is not much better than winning a state championship.
Except, perhaps, to win two state championships.
For senior Gabby Clark and her Edmonds-Woodway teammates, this weekend is the chance to repeat last season’s magical run to the Class 3A state title. The Warriors have advanced through the regular season, the district playoffs and the first two rounds of the state playoffs to reach Friday night’s semifinal showdown with undefeated Seattle Prep.
Though Seattle Prep’s 20-0-1 record is rather daunting, the Warriors are no less formidable. Edmonds-Woodway dropped its season opener against Mercer Island, but has since gone unbeaten. And by winning playoff games last week against Eastside Catholic (3-0) and Central Kitsap (2-1), the Warriors not only improved their season mark to 18-1-2, but moved to the threshold of a second straight title.
And that prospect makes Clark smile.
To win another championship, she said, “would be just amazing.” Winning a year ago, she added, “was one of the best moments of my life.”
The Warriors have a lot of contributors this season, “but Gabby right now is kind of the focal point,” said coach Bill LeCompte. “She’s become a go-to person. Not necessarily for scoring, but definitely a go-to person for when things aren’t right (because) she’s got something positive to say to build her team back up.”
And when things are going right, “she’s usually in the middle of it,” he added.
Clark was a first-team All-Western Conference 3A South pick a year ago as a midfielder. She started this season again at midfield — albeit “an attacking mid,” she said — but in recent games has moved up to a forward position. She gets her share of goals, but also helps create plenty of chances for her teammates.
“Gabby is such a light-hearted person, but yet she dies for everybody on the field,” LeCompte said. “And everybody sees that day in and day out. That’s a big reason she’s had success. She’s just working as hard as she possibly can because she wants her friends to succeed, too.”
Clark is one of three co-captains for the Warriors — senior defender Ashleigh Fonsen and junior defender Kia Mackey are the others — and the trio is “respected by their peers for different things, which is what you need,” LeCompte said. “You need people who are being sought after and followed because of the way they play and for the approach they have because of the quality individuals that they are. And that’s the unique thing about the three captains we have.”
For Clark and the other Warriors, this weekend will cap a season that began with great hope, but also great uncertainty. Edmonds-Woodway had several new players, making it difficult for anyone to know just how good the team would be.
“There was so much doubt before the season about us being in it again because of how many players we lost and who we lost,” Clark acknowledged. And after the Mercer Island defeat, “I was a little worried and maybe curious to see how it was going to turn out. But we were a completely new team and we needed to learn how to play together. It takes time, but luckily it only took one game and then we started connecting.
“What I love is that we’re so team oriented. When we’re on the field together, it’s always about working with each other. No one out there is playing by themselves. Everyone is playing together, and we’re always looking for each other and looking to work with each other.”
And in a season that could turn out to be as magical as a year ago, “I think everyone’s proven that with all our hard work and the talent on the team that we could get back to the state tournament,” she said.
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