SHORELINE — Meadowdale avenged its only loss of the season Thursday night and offered up more evidence why it looks like the team to beat in the Western Conference South Division.
The first-place Mavericks, who have just two seniors on their roster, improved to 5-0 in the division and 11-1 overall with a 2-1 win over Shorewood at Shoreline Stadium.
“Every day we’re starting to click more with each other on and off the field,” said junior forward Julia Fjortoft, who scored her division-leading 16th goal in the second half.
Fjortoft collected a bouncing ball on a breakaway, dribbled inside the penalty box and knocked a left-footed shot past Shorewood goalkeeper Madison Hollenbeck in the 54th minute to put the Mavericks up 2-0.
Meadowdale scored its first goal in the eighth minute when sophomore forward Maddi Null curled a corner kick inside the far post past the late arriving Shorewood defense.
“We fell apart on that one,” Shorewood coach Nathan Davis said. “We have some things to work on.”
Shorewood beat Meadowdale 2-0 Sept. 16 in a non-conference game, but this time the Mavericks maintained possession of the ball better, first-year coach Chris Baldwin said.
“We wanted revenge,” Fjortoft said. “We knew they were one of the top teams in the league. We wanted to do everything we could to beat them.”
“They just outplayed us, there’s not much more to it,” Davis said of his Thunderbirds, who are now two games back in the division after falling to 3-2 in conference and 9-2-1 overall.
The Mavericks came out with a stronger attack and defensive performance than in the first meeting.
“Our defense did a good job keeping them out,” Fjortoft said. “We have a very solid back four.”
Both teams had 12 shots. Meadowdale attempted eight in the first half and Shorewood attempted eight in the second half. Shorewood stepped up its attack in the final 40 minutes but didn’t break through until the 73rd minute when sophomore forward Kelsey Johnson launched a shot from 25 yards out that got underneath the crossbar.
But most of the night Shorewood came up empty.
“We didn’t do a whole lot with it when we got it on their side of the field,” Davis said.
Zickefoose made four saves in the game, including three crucial ones in the second half. In the 44th minute, Shorewood midfielder Xana Bartlett’s cross found forward Hannah Dillard’s feet at the near post but Zickefoose pounced on the ball to thwart the goal.
Shorewood defender Dominique Amor moved up into the attack in the 48th minute and fired a shot from the 18-yard line but Zickefoose corralled the ball. In the 51st minute, midfielder Louise Albin’s free kick hit off Zickefoose’s chest, but she recovered in time and grabbed the ball before Shorewood’s attackers could get there.
“She did a great job,” Baldwin said. “She’s been spectacular.”
Meadowdale’s only senior is Zickefoose while the majority of the team is sophomores and juniors. The Mavericks have two key home games coming up against Kamiak Oct. 21 and Jackson, which is also unbeaten in the conference, Oct. 30, the season finale. –
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