PUYALLUP — The Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer team proved its share of doubters wrong this season with its run to the 3A state semifinals where it faced Seattle Prep on Friday.
When senior Madison Schultz elected not to play this season as she prepares to enroll early at the University of North Carolina after helping lead the Warriors to the state championship a year ago, many doubted the Warriors would be able to make a return trip to the state tournament.
They did that and more.
The Warriors found themselves in the semifinals, only one win away from going back to the championship to defend their title. Less than 20 minutes into the game though, Edmonds-Woodway was down 2-0. Rather than fold, the Warriors set out to prove their doubters wrong again — and they nearly succeeded.
Edmonds-Woodway’s second-half rally came up just short in a 2-1 loss to the Panthers, who moved on to face Southridge in Saturday’s state championship game.
“I think my emotions say everything,” Edmonds-Woodway head coach Bill LeCompte said, fighting back tears. “Just the heart and desire to roll out the way they just did. To not give up against a team that is very good, but knowing that 10 times out of 10 we have a chance to go toe-to-toe with them every time. They’re a good team. I just love the fact that we represent a school that whoever shows up we’re going to put it on the field and see what’s there. The amount of heart that these kids have is something else.”
Seattle Prep scored 20 minutes into the game on a penalty kick by Jalen Woodward. Six minutes later the Panthers scored again on a breakaway by Sophie Hirst to take a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers’ lead held up through halftime, but it was a different Warriors team that took the field after the intermission. The Warriors took the role of aggressor and the Panthers were the team on the defensive.
“In the second half my challenge was for them to go out and play for each other and ultimately that’s what they did,” LeCompte said. “It was just one of those things where it was like, ‘go out and play the way that you can. Be yourselves.’”
It paid off for the Warriors in the 56th minute when sophomore Alison Monroe took a throw-in and connected on a lob-shot from 25 yards out to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“I think in their minds they wanted to kind of stall the game and in our minds we wanted to go out swinging,” LeCompte said. “We definitely came out with a little bit more fire and tried to press the pace. I think we did.”
The Warriors threatened several times to equalize the game, with perhaps the best chance coming in stoppage time when freshman Michaela Danyo had a scoring opportunity in the penalty box deflected out of bounds by Seattle Prep midfielder Helena Reischling — a play that ultimately saved the game for the Panthers.
“You could see that our kids were believing in what we were doing and they just wanted to keep trying to get it done,” LeCompte said. “One of the things about the game is that you have figure out how to break down a team and once you do that you keep trying to break them down in that same way until they figure out how to defend it differently. I think we were figuring out a way to find holes and get it down in the attacking third and figuring how to get (shots) on frame. For whatever reason, the stupid crossbar gets in the way.”
LeCompte was referring to a shot taken from 30 yards out by Monroe that flew over the head of the Seattle Prep goalkeeper, but bounced off the crossbar. That shot came just moments before Monroe scored the Warriors only goal of the contest.
Though the Warriors didn’t leave the state tournament on top as they did a year ago, they did form their own identity and proved they belong on the biggest stage.
“These girls have just a tremendous thing,” LeCompte said. “They’ve had a tremendous effort every night. They’ve learned how to work extremely well together. We’re a better passing team and we’re a better tactical team than we ever were last year and that’s coming off of a state-title team. They deserve all the credit.”
The loss sets up an all-Wesco game for third place Saturday where the Warriors will face Arlington, which lost to Southridge in Friday’s other 3A semifinal.
“(Arlington head coach Nathan Davis) has a great program and they’re a good team and they’ve been a tough test every time we’ve played them,” LeCompte said. “Most every year it’s a tough test playing Arlington. It’s a compliment to our conference that we’ve got two (teams) standing here. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get into the next game and we’ll play each other.”
At Sparks Stadium
Goals—Jalen Woodward (SP), Sophie Hirst (SP), Alison Monroe (EW). Assists—Nicole Rassmussen (SP), Chiara Serafini (EW). Goalkeepers—Edmonds-Woodway: Hannah Hicks. Seattle Prep: Audrey Aggen. Records—Edmonds-Woodway 18-2-2. Seattle Prep 22-0-1.
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