EVERETT — The third time was a charm for the Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer team.
Not only did it take three shootout goals to win the 4A District 1 tournament game Tuesday at Goddard Stadium, it also took three games between the Wesco South rivals for the Warriors to come out on the winning end. Its previous experience with Kamiak (12-4-1 overall) is what set the game plan for Edmonds-Woodway (9-8-1), a 3-2 winner.
“We knew what we had to do and that was to keep Kelli Stewart contained,” said Edmonds-Woodway head coach Bill LeCompte. “That was the mindset defensively.”
Edmonds-Woodway scored the first goal in the 41st minute when Lauren Ummel, assisted by Carly MacKay, took advantage of a corner kick.
“We had several near misses and to be able to capitalize on a dead ball was a highlight,” said LeCompte of the goal.
Kamiak’s Carly Thompson tied the score at 1-1 in the 57th minute off of an assist by Stewart.
With two minutes left, Carlin Huegli connected with the net to give Edmonds-Woodway the lead.
But Kamiak refused to go down without a fight. In the the final minute of the game, Morgan Reitan kicked the ball towards the net and Kelli Stewart headed it in for the tie.
“I thought (Reitan) had an outstanding game,” said Kamiak head coach Beth Stewart. “She left it all out on the field. I was really proud of her.”
The score remained 2-2 after two overtimes, meaning that a shootout would determine the winner. After her teammates had scored twice and Kamiak failed to score in three attempts, Cheyenne Smith sealed the game when the ball sailed past Kamiak goalie KJ Stupey.
“Jordan more than did her job,” said LeCompte about the Warrior’s goalkeeper Jordan Holmes. “She put us in position to walk away with the win tonight.”
During the regular season, Edmonds-Woodway faced Kamiak twice. On Sept. 18, they were edged out 4-3 by the Knights and on Oct. 16, they were defeated 3-1.
“It was a bummer,” said Stewart about the loss. “It’s always tough to battle a team you’ve played twice and beat.”
In the regular season, Kamiak only lost three games and two of those were against undefeated Wesco South champion Jackson. But Stewart understands the reasons for the loss and said that Edmonds-Woodway was good at taking advantage of the defensive errors her team made.
“Congrats to them. They battled hard and played a great game,” she continued. “We got the ball a lot, had a lot of opportunities and just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Edmonds-Woodway plays Lake Stevens at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Snohomish in a battle for third place in Wesco 4A and a trip to the state tournament. The last time the Warriors were in the playoffs was in 2003 when they were co-champions of the Wesco South and won the district championship against Oak Harbor.
“We really want to play our style, which is possession oriented,” said LeCompte about his plan for Thursday’s game.
At Goddard Stadium
Goals—E-W: Ummel, Huegli. Kamiak: Thompson, Stewart. Assists—E-W: MacKay. Kamiak: Stewart, Reitan. Goalkeepers—E-W: Holmes. Kamiak: Stupey. Records—E-W 9-8-1 overall. Kamiak 12-4-1.
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