SHORELINE — Shorewood girls soccer knew it needed to be prepared against Mountlake Terrace in the District 1 3A Tournament play-in round at Shoreline Stadium on Thursday, particularly against their counterattack, but coach Shaun Warner didn’t expect the visiting side to come out with as much offensive power as it did.
Junior goalkeeper Mady Finseth was tested early, making a point-blank save off a Mountlake Terrace corner kick in the second minute before making back-to-back stops on shots from junior Taylor Williams and sophomore Ella Vander Ploeg, respectively. Williams fired a shot about 20 yards back from the right post, which Finseth redirected right at Vander Ploeg inside the 18-yard box in front of the left post. Finseth quickly adjusted and got in front of the rebound to snuff out the chance.
“Get up, get your eyes on the ball,” Finseth said, recalling what she thought to herself. “Figure out where she’s going to shoot and try and predict where she’s going to shoot so I can be kind of ready to react.”
With their goalkeeper stepping up, the No. 6 seed Stormrays (8-6-3) started to wake up, and after pulling ahead with a goal from freshman Siena Lorentz in the 25th minute, held off the No. 11 seed Hawks (4-10-3) for a 1-0 victory to advance to the quarterfinals.
The top four finishers in the district bracket will earn a trip to the state tournament.
“I thought they did a really good job countering us,” Warner said. “(Hawks senior Mia Rheinheimer), she was a handful tonight (in the midfield). She was really good, but (Finseth) was outstanding. So thank goodness she was in goal that first half.”
After the sequence of saves from Finseth kept Mountlake Terrace off the score sheet, Shorewood started to control possession, but had trouble getting behind the Hawks’ backline. Junior Rilan Fly ripped a rocket of a shot off a throw-in during the 15th minute, but Hawks goalkeeper Jordyn Stokes made the save. Williams responded with a shot off a give-and-go a minute later, but once again Finseth made the stop.
“Obviously both teams wanted to win,” Shorewood senior Jasmine Bea Lumbera said. “(The) keeper was tested (on) both sides, and we just needed to turn on and pick our own shots, too.”
The Stormrays finally broke through in the 25th minute after sending a cross in on net. Before Stokes could secure the ball at her feet, Shorewood freshman Siena Lorentz jumped in to poke it across the goal line and give the Stormrays a 1-0 lead. After playing most of the season on JV before her promotion late in the season, Lorentz never expected that she would score the deciding goal in a varsity playoff game this season.
“I was just in the right place,” Lorentz said. “I ran in and I saw the ball coming towards me, and I just tried to get my foot on it.”
Shorewood’s Siena Lorentz celebrates scoring a goal during the 3A district game against Mountlake Terrace on Oct. 30, 2025 in Shoreline, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Warner said Lorentz could have started the season on varsity, but he wanted her to have more playing time on junior varsity and gain experience there before bringing her up. After proving her goal-scoring prowess at that level, Lorentz has seamlessly transitioned into a valuable asset off the bench, with older teammates praising her energy and speed.
“It wasn’t just the fact that she was scoring goals, it was how she was getting those goals,” Warner said. “It wasn’t just speed, it was also skill. Sometimes that type of speed in JV looks good, but then (when it) goes to varsity it doesn’t. She actually had the ball skill to go with it.”
Mountlake Terrace had a prime opportunity to level the score off a corner kick just a couple of minutes after going down 1-0, but the cross didn’t connect and Shorewood hung on to its lead. Finseth made a couple more saves before halftime, stopping a shot from outside the box in the 28th minute and scooping up a shot off a hop in the 35th minute as the Hawks made a push.
Sophomore Mila Miropolskaya took over in net for the second half, where the Stormrays focused on playing intelligently, avoiding mistakes and trying to capitalize from the outside. Lumbera drew a foul in the 49th minute to set Shorewood up with a free kick on the left edge of the 18-yard box, and even after Mountlake Terrace turned it away, she used her head to clear out a Hawks free kick just a few minutes later.
“Being up 1-0, I would say (having) patience on the ball, keeping possession obviously, and wanting to work more in the second half than the first,” Lumbera said. “Because obviously they want to fight back and win it.”
The Stormrays created a couple of opportunities to pad their lead down the stretch, but each side’s backline managed to contain most of the play in the middle third of the field. Lorentz and Rilan Fly teamed up for a last-ditch effort running upfield in the final two minutes, but Stokes managed to scoop up a shoot from junior Maily Fly, who followed up the initial rush and got her foot on the ball.
The Hawks pushed back with one last opportunity inside the 18-yard box, but Miropolskaya made a diving save to preserve the shutout and allow Shorewood to hang on for the 1-0 win.
The Stormrays advance to face No. 3 seed Monroe (10-4-1) on Saturday, and will likely have to rely on their depth even more after junior Natalia Schweitzer went down with an injury late in the first half. Warner said she will be evaluated by a doctor on Friday, but “it’s not looking good.”
It won’t be do-or-die for either team on Saturday, as the losing team will fall into the consolation bracket, but after surviving the play-in round on Thursday, Shorewood hopes to start a run by standing on its three pillars: Perseverance, accountability and trust.
“We’ll just carry this energy forward,” Finseth said. “And let’s win as many as we can.”
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