EDMONDS — If a movie about Wednesday night’s 3A state tournament soccer game between Meadowdale and Bonney Lake was pitched to a Hollywood producer, it might get sent back because the ending was too hard to believe.
The Meadowdale faithful crowding Edmonds Stadium couldn’t have asked for a better show.
After trailing by two goals, taking the lead and allowing the Panthers to comeback and tie, Meadowdale pulled off a 4-3 victory thanks to a last-minute miracle shot by Jasmine Parsley.
“It’s really exciting,” Parsley, a junior defender, said.” It’s my first goal as a defender.
“I’m in shock.”
For the final five minutes of the game, Bonney Lake (16-3), which had surrendered fewer than 10 goals combined during the regular season, seemed content to let the clock run out as Meadowdale continued to pour on the pressure.
The game-winning goal came after a throw-in deep in Panther territory that was cleared by the Bonney Lake defense from inside the penalty box. The ball bounced between a cluster of players near the Panthers’ goal and the Mavericks’ back line into a wide-open area about 30 yards out.
Parsley burst up from the back line and chipped a shot over the defense. The ball sailed into the top of the net as the clock ticked down to 20 seconds to play.
“I feel like they wanted to go into overtime and possibly go to PKs, but we were just (pushing) so hard,” Meadowdale forward Alyssa Navlet said. “We wanted to get the win really bad.”
The victory sends Meadowdale (17-3) to the state quarterfinals. The Mavs will play host Bishop Blanchet — 5-1 winners over Kelso on Wednesday night — at 3 p.m. Saturday, once again at Edmonds Stadium.
For awhile Wednesday, it looked like Bonney Lake would be the team to advance.
In the 13th minute, the Panthers used their throw-in specialist to get on the board. Ashley Cade threw from deep in the Mavericks’ end into the box and the ball came flying back to the sophomore midfielder. Cade sent back ball back into the box where Meadowdale keeper Ashley Routh tried to cover it. The ball squirted behind Routh where Bonney lake’s Madison Adams scored an easy goal.
In the 23rd minute, the Panthers drew a foul deep in Meadowdale territory, setting up a free kick. Andrea Bowman hit the ball well, but the Mavs cleared it easily, setting up a Panther corner kick.
Bonney Lake’s Kassandra Blakely ran to retrieve the ball from the corner of the field and Madison ran towards her as if to take the kick. Instead Blakely rushed to the corner and tapped a pass to Madison, who was completely unguarded with a good angle on the goal. She converted the open shot and Bonney Lake took a 2-0 edge.
Meadowdale looked outgunned for most of the first half.
“We didn’t adjust to their style of play,” Mavs coach Wade Foley said. “Their style was more centrally located in their midfield. It took us a while to figure out what they were doing and then to come back. I made those adjustments and then I think you saw the difference with how we approached the second half.”
Before the Mavs got to make the halftime adjustments, senior Alisa Sagdahl scored to make it 2-1 heading into the break. The senior forward played like she didn’t want her career at Meadowdale to end, spearheading much of Meadowdale’s attack.
“She’s really pulled this team along and (has) been the anchor up there,” Foley said of Sagdahl. “She knows where to be and where to put that ball in the net. It’s been a really important thing for her to have that instinct to go to goal and be able to finish. It’s something she didn’t do last year but has done an excellent job this year.”
Shortly after the half, Emily Crichlow tied the score 2-2 on a Sagdahl assist.
It was Sagdahl again in the 54th minute, when she gave the Mavs the lead with a header thanks to a free kick from Hannah Shouse.
Jessyka Seger gave Bonney Lake its only goal of the second half, scoring in the 60th minute on a corner kick from Brittany Martin. That goal set up the wild ending.
Foley said he has seen some great games coaching youth and high school over the years, but he believes this game was special.
“This one tops it,” the Mavs coach said. “This was a tremendous gut-out victory for us. To go down 2-0 and come back and win 4-3 shows tremendous strength for the girls.”
Foley said he was really impressed by the Panthers and added it was too bad that their season had to end this way.
“It’s unfortunate,” Foley said. “They are a great team. I really want to say they are a great squad. They moved the ball really well. They came to play tonight.”
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