Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer earns key win over Archbishop Murphy

Published 12:55 am Friday, October 17, 2025

EVERETT — Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer did not want to leave Terry Ennis Stadium on Thursday with the same feelings of disappointment they experienced in their first matchup with Archbishop Murphy.

Despite losing 1-0 in overtime back on Sept. 11, Edmonds-Woodway felt it had played the better game. After leaving crucial points on the table, Edmonds-Woodway proceeded to go unbeaten over their next nine games leading into the rematch, and they wouldn’t let another opportunity slip by.

“We were just disappointed knowing that that wasn’t the outcome that should happen,” senior Jane Hanson said. “We’re a much stronger team, and we know that we totally had to prove ourselves tonight.”

It didn’t take long for them to do so.

Hanson opened the scoring for the Warriors (8-2-3, 6-1-3 league) in the sixth minute en route to a 3-0 win against the Wildcats (9-2-2, 7-2-2).

An Archbishop Murphy victory would have clinched the Wesco North 3A/2A title for the Wildcats, but second-place Edmonds-Woodway kept its window propped open. The Warriors now sit two points behind Archbishop Murphy with a league game in hand.

Edmonds-Woodway coach Kim Plumis looks back on the first matchup against the Wildcats as a “galvanizing result” that has propelled them through the rest of their schedule

“They’ve really just responded,” Plumis said. “This group plays for each other, and they have great chemistry and that’s what you saw in the game. They just wanted it, and they wanted it for each other, so it’s fun to see them come together.”

For the first five minutes, both sides settled into the game, neither one building much momentum until Edmonds-Woodway suddenly grabbed the lead when Hanson finished off a sequence of quick passing, receiving a through ball from junior Audrey Rothmier and slotting it to the back of the net.

From there, the Warriors controlled most of the play, tilting the action towards Archbishop Murphy’s half. Junior Isabella Dreitzler appeared to score in the 11th minute off another through ball, but she was called offsides. Edmonds-Woodway continued to create chances, winning balls back after turning them over and forcing play ahead. Rothmier sent a shot off the crossbar in the 18th minute, and Dreitzler made a couple of nice moves to get around defenders before sending a shot over the bar in the 19th minute. Senior Jane Miceli managed to deliver a good cross a few minutes later, but the following shot went straight to the goalkeeper.

“They’re amazing at pressing,” Plumis said about her team’s efforts in the first half. “They just want to press, and they want the ball, and they’re not going to let them have a second free to think. So even when we weren’t pressing, (the Wildcats) were like, ‘Oh, are they coming?’ You could tell they were a little nervous, so that’s the way we want to play.”

Despite the dominant effort, the Warriors remained ahead by just one goal entering the halftime break. Even with the lead, a single strike from the Wildcats would make it a whole new game, and create an opening for yet another wasted opportunity for Edmonds-Woodway.

That possibility lasted all of four minutes in the second half, when the Warriors once again settled into their possession game and worked the ball around the box before setting up senior Abby Peterson for a clear shooting lane square with the net, and she made no mistake with it to make it 2-0 in the 44th minute.

Senior Magdalena Waters padded the lead in the 56th minute, shooting a rebound through traffic after the ball landed in front of her off of a Warriors’ corner kick to make it 3-0.

“I was just trying to read the ball and see if it was going to pop out,” Waters said. “And then when it did, I just made sure I was positioned right and just hit it in.”

Archbishop Murphy started to push back a little more midway through the second half, but Edmonds-Woodway remained in control. Junior Akiko Ikegami sent a high-arcing shot on net that was barely kept out in the 67th minute, and Hanson managed to rocket another shot on goal in the 72nd minute.

According to the players, converting goals within the first several minutes of each half went a long way in creating a lasting energy that allowed them to power through for the decisive victory.

“That’s such a tone-setter,” Hanson said. “I think it just builds momentum from there. Everyone feels food with a goal under their belt, and then from there, we can move forward.”

Despite getting the win, the Warriors suffered a loss when senior Madalyn Bryant went down with a serious knee injury in the 33rd minute and had to be helped off the field. The forward had recently returned midseason from a different knee injury last year, making it an even bigger blow for her teammates to overcome.

“It’s really sad,” Plumis said. “That’s hard. It’s hard to see your teammate go down.”

The Warriors close out the regular season with three home games, sandwiching a non-league game against Jackson on Oct. 23 between two extremely consequential league matchups against Shorecrest (Oct. 21) and Meadowdale (Oct. 27). If Edmonds-Woodway wins both league game and Archbishop Murphy wins their final league matchup against Mountlake Terrace on Oct. 23, the Warriors would finish one point ahead in the final Wesco North 3A/2A standings.

In other words, Edmonds-Woodway still controls its own destiny, and it doesn’t intend to let that opportunity pass it by.

“We’ve talked about the next couple games, how important they are,” Waters said. “So we know we have something to prove. We know where we want to end up, so we’re just leaving everything on the field.”