SHORELINE
Beating a team three times in one season is a hard thing to do.
Just ask Everett girls soccer coach Kosta Pitharoulis.
The Seagulls came into the Nov. 3 3A District 1 Championship game with a 17-0-1 record for the season, but walked out 17-1-1 after a 2-0 loss to the Meadowdale Mavericks.
“Mission Impossible,” Pitharoulis said. “How do you beat a team three times in a row? Every game was tight. The first time we played them it was 2-0, the second time it was 1-0. I mean, it was bound to happen. Credit to them, they came out and they were fired up.”
Meadowdale head coach Wade Foley had nothing but praise for the Mavericks opponent.
“We played a tough team tonight in Everett,” Foley said. “They battled us all year. We just happened to have the better game tonight.”
And in the process, the Mavericks (16-3-0) handed the Seagulls their first loss of the season.
“It means a lot,” Foley said. “To come out and be competitive against one of the top teams in the state and then put two goals on them when I think they have only given up six or seven goals all season and scored a bunch. So, for us to come out here and hold them scoreless and put two in the net, it’s a really good sign that the girls are putting it together at the right time.”
Both teams are still headed to the 3A state tournament, along with Shorecrest, who defeated Mount Vernon earlier in the evening.
The Seagulls and Mavericks played the first 57 minutes of the game scoreless. Then Meadowdale’s Sophie Millet took a cross and gave the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
“I just took a touch and just watched the way the goalie stepped and then just placed it,” Millet said.
After Millet’s goal, the Mavericks continued to look for a little more breathing room. Alisa Sagdahl had a couple of chances to give Meadowdale a 2-0 advantage, but one shot sailed just wide of the goal, the other sailed over the goal.
The Seagulls, meanwhile, hadn’t given up either. Everett’s Makaela Nellams found herself with a breakaway with only Meadowdale goalkeeper Ashley Routh to beat late in the game, but the ball got out just too far in front of Nellams and Routh was able to pounce on the ball.
Pitharoulis jokingly said he wasn’t sure what happened on the play because he has never been as fast as Nellams.
“In my lifetime, I have never been that fast to know what it is like to have to keep your feet underneath you,” Pitharoulis said. “Who knows? It would just be me guessing.”
Not lost in the shuffle was Routh’s aggressiveness in attacking the ball and taking away Nellams scoring chance.
“What can I say about Ashley?” Foley said. “She is a freshman. She is a real hard worker and she has all of the intangibles.”
Minutes after Routh’s save, Meadowdale finally got the separation it was looking for when Sagdahl scored in the 75th minute.
“We knew we needed to get a win,” Sagdahl said. “And I wasn’t going into overtime or PK’s. So, I got to put one away. They are a great team, so to have a two-goal lead is great.”
With the District 1 championship trophy up on the shelf, what is the expectation now for the Mavericks?
“To beat everyone,” Sagdahl said. “To get that (state) championship.”
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