Meadowdale storms back

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, November 11, 2009

EDMONDS — Playoff soccer is supposed to be a grind-it-out, nil-nil affair decided by penalty kicks.

A team that gives up four-straight goals isn’t supposed to have a prayer to advance.

Apparently the Meadowdale girls soccer team didn’t get that memo.

After falling behind 4-1 and looking utterly defeated in the process, the Mavericks outgunned Lindbergh 6-5 to advance to the second round of the state 3A playoffs and host Columbia River on Saturday.

“I give all the credit to the girls for not giving up,” Meadowdale coach Chris Baldwin said. “Good teams find a way to win and that’s what we did.”

In the world today, superlatives like “best” and “ever” are tossed around with little regard for history or accuracy, but everyone who braved the steady downpour at Edmonds Stadium Tuesday night could agree that this was the craziest comeback ever in a soccer game.

The motivation for the rally came from an unlikely source.

Pink Shirts.

On Sunday, the girls hand-made brightly colored shirts with “District Champs” and “State ’09” written all over. The seniors were excited about their first trip to state since 2007 when they lost in the first round.

“We can’t just wear them for two days,” senior captain Julia Fjortoft said, describing her halftime motivation.

Fjortoft burst out of the second-half kickoff in a dead sprint and it looked like Meadowdale (14-5-1) was not going to go out easy, but the Eagles’ defense stiffened and looked like it might be able to hold onto the three-goal advantage.

Then came an unassisted goal from the left side by Mavs forward Alisa Sagdahl nine minutes into the second half.

“We said one touch at a time will get us back in this,” Fjortoft said.

A foul right on the football 30-yard marker set up a free kick for strong-footed Krista Bartkowski. The junior defender delivered maybe the prettiest shot of the night, one that looked like it would sail over the crossbar but just found the upper right corner above the reach of Lindbergh keeper Audrey Cunningham.

Suddenly it was 4-3 and the momentum was Meadowdale’s with just under 30 minutes to go.

“The only thing that kept us alive was that (the Eagles) scored their goals early,” Baldwin said.

The Mavericks went on to outshoot Lindbergh 18-3 in the second half and many of the attempts came from the foot of Fjortoft, who finished second in Wesco with 20 goals during the regular season.

The fleet Mavs forward blew a chance at an equalizer in the 55th minute. One-on-one with the keeper, she overdribbled and failed to get a shot off, but managed to earn a cornerkick that her teammates cashed in.

Mackenzie Stapelton took the corner from the right side and Hannah Landerholm headed in the tying score.

In the next few minutes, the Eagles started coming unraveled, getting whistled for a yellow card and nearly giving up an own-goal.

Kari Beaulieu gave the Mavs the lead when she headed in a cornerkick from Maddi Null in the 65th minute.

“We kept telling each other that we can’t quit,” Fjortoft said.

Fjortoft made up for her one-on-one miss earlier with a left foot in the 71st minute in the same situation. This time she beat the keeper for her second score of the night. At the time, it just seemed like icing, but became huge when Lindbergh’s offense re-emerged.

Jami Kouba got a ball past Meadowdale goalkeeper Julia Grossenbacher in the 77th minute to give the Eagles brief hope of extending the game to overtime, but time ran out.

In less than ideal conditions, Grossenbacher, a junior, played her worst game of the season, but allowed just the one second-half goal.

“For her to come back and keep her composure was amazing,” Baldwin said. “Amazing.”

For Lindbergh (12-5-2), the second-seeded team from south King County’s Seamount league, the game proved to be 40 minutes too long.

After Fjortoft got on the board quickly in the first half with an unassisted goal in the 5th minute, the Eagles caught the Meadowdale defense off guard over and over again with shots from outside the 18-yard box.

First, it was midfielder Elise Aylward in the 11th minute. Then Nicole Burnette took advantage of a bad drop kick by Grossenbacher and a slow reaction from Meadowdale’s defense in the 19th minute. Burnette dribbled down the left side and scored again in the 29th minute.

Kouba assisted Jordyn McLuen in the 34th minute to give the Eagles a seemingly comfortable three-goal lead before Meadowdale came out recharged in the second half.