EDMONDS — Heading into last week’s Class 3A state quarterfinal boys soccer matchup, Meadowdale didn’t know much about its rival R.A. Long.

So instead of focusing on the opponent, the Mavericks decided the only appropriate strategy was to put the Lumberjacks on the defensive.

“We didn’t know anything about this team and the whole crux of what we were trying to tell the kids is we wanted to play our game,” said Meadowdale coach Darrell Hamilton. “We wanted to just go and attack and let them try to figure us out.”

The approach paid almost immediate dividends.

Meadowdale sophomore forward Solly Gold scored off a pinpoint pass from junior midfielder Josh Swett to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead just three minutes into the game.

Sophomore forward Brandon Rodriguez later headed into another goal in the second half as Meadowdale defeated R.A. Long 2-0 May 24 at Edmonds Stadium.

The victory sends the Mavericks into the state semifinals. Meadowdale will face Camas at 1 p.m. today (Friday, May 30) at Doc Harris Stadium in Camas. The winner meets the winner of the Newport/North Thurston game at 5 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, May 31). The losers of the two semifinal games face off in the consolation finals at 11 a.m.

“It feels good, especially for the seniors,” Swett said of Meadowdale’s quarterfinal triumph. “They haven’t gone far the last couple of years. It feels good to win a game for them. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Predications aside, Hamilton feels that the Mavericks are peaking at the right time.

“This group of guys, they’ve worked hard all year,” he said. “They’re playing their best soccer of the year right now.”

In a first-round game against Sammamish, Meadowdale started out slow and battled to scoreless halftime tie, something Gold and his teammates wanted to avoid against R.A. Long.

Swett provided the opportunity and Gold took advantage of it.

“The ball came through. I didn’t think the defenders would be able to handle it,” Gold said of Swett’s pass. “So I just kept running and (the ball) dribbled through. I just hit it off the far post.”

The goal seemed to energize the Mavericks, who kept the pressure on the Lumberjacks, though no more goals were scored in the first half. Meadowdale outshot R.A. Long 7-3 in the first half and 15-5 overall.

“It’s all about just starting off quick,” Gold said.

But the Lumberjacks regrouped toward the end of the first half and had two of their three scoring opportunities in the final two minutes of the half.

Meadowdale’s attack strategy worked well for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the first half, according to Hamilton.

“Then the last 15 or 20 minutes of the half, I thought we got a little bit tired,” he said. “They were doing a lot of give-and-go stuff and we were chasing them. We got a little bit tired and then they started putting a little pressure on us.”

The Mavericks regrouped at halftime.

“At the start of the first half, we were just pressuring them all the time and by the end of the first half we got a little tired and that sort of slowed us down,” Swett said. “We caught our breath again in the second half and kept it going.”

With about 12 minutes left in the game, senior midfielder Nick Norton sent a corner kick in front of the R.A. Long goal, which bounced in the air three times before Rodriguez finally headed it into the goal.

“We just worked hard for that second one,” Swett said. “Three or four people got heads on the ball.”

The goal was quite a relief for the Mavericks.

“We knew that they’ve won a lot of games with PKs (penalty kicks),” Gold said. “So we were trying to make sure that they couldn’t tie us up and go into overtime .. we were just trying to keep them on our side of the field.”

Considering the opportunities Meadowdale had in the first half, Swett wasn’t totally happy to have only a 1-0 lead.

“We knew we had to put them away,” he said. “We should have put them away in the first half.”

The Lumberjacks may have had some trouble adjusting to the artificial turf at Edmonds Stadium. Meadowdale, which plays a good portion of its regular season at the stadium, spent the whole week preparing for the game.

“They (Lumberjacks) don’t play on this surface very often and all the practices the last week have been on this surface,” Hamilton said. “We really focused on getting over here (stadium) and getting used to the touch and getting used to the surface and I think it showed.

“I think we controlled the ball much better this time than we did in the last game (against Sammamish).”

This is the first semifinal appearance for a Meadowdale boys soccer team.

“It’s exciting to be here,” Gold said. “I think we can win it.”