The Meadowdale girls soccer team proved at least one thing in its 6-0 victory over district rival Lynnwood in a first-round 3A District 1 playoff game Nov. 1 at Edmonds Stadium.
The Mavericks are capable of bouncing back after a loss.
The playoff victory came two days after Meadowdale suffered its first and only defeat in league play, 1-0, to Jackson in both teams’ final regular season game. Meadowdale already had clinched the Western Conference South Division title earlier in the week.
“I think we’re playing some of the best soccer we’ve played all season,” said first-year coach Chris Baldwin. “We’re excited to continue into the tournament.”
Meadowdale was scheduled to face Shorecrest in a semifinal game on Tuesday night after The Enterprise’s deadlines.
The goal against Lynnwood was to take the Royals out of their game and get them to play Meadowdale’s style.
“The game plan was to possess the ball as much as possible,” Baldwin said. “If we possessed the ball they wouldn’t get an opportunity to get into their style. … I thought we did very well playing the ball at our feet. I told the girls not to take it for granted. They played hard.”
League leading goal scorer Julia Fjortoft scored three goals and teammate Ashley Correa added a pair in the victory. Mackenzie Stapleton scored the other goal.
Opponents expecting the Meadowdale offense to revolve solely around Fjortoft and Correa better be prepared for other players to get in on the action.
“We’re spreading it around and moving girls around, throwing different looks at our opponents,” Baldwin said. “I thought (we) held our presence very well on the field on Saturday.”
Meadowale and Jackson split the season series, though last week’s loss was a league game while the other was not.
“Jackson is a very solid opponent and obviously played very well,” Baldwin said. “We played them once and beat them once. They obviously got a lot better. It was their night.”
But if there was a good time to lose, that was the game to lose, Baldwin added. “It was a good opportunity to bounce back and to see our team turn around after a loss like that.”
Defenders Carly Holmes and Hannah Landerholm helped goalkeepers Tanya Zickelfoose and Abbie Gustafson record the shutout against Lynnwood.
But like the offense, the Meadowdale defense changes throughout the game.
“We’re continuing to try to switch those girls around to show opponents different looks,” Baldwin said. “Our game at all times contains a lot of movement off the ball, a lot of different looks.”
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