Meadowdale’s boys soccer team looks to be heading in the right direction.

After an up-and-down start to 2008, the Mavericks put together back-to-back victories for the first time this season. The Mavericks downed Lynnwood 2-0 on March 25 and then took care of Mountlake Terrace 3-1 on March 28.

Meadowdale coach Sean Griffin saw improvement in the Mavericks’ offensive flow.

“One of the things we’ve been really trying to work on is moving the ball better over different places on the field and not holding it so much,” he said. “We did a better job overall of that. We still ended up with some situations where people weren’t really expecting or anticipating plays.”

The three-goal outburst against the Hawks is a good sign as far as the Meadowdale offense is concerned. The Mavericks have been shut out twice and scored only three goals in their first four contests.

“The difference was we were going after it in the box tonight,” Griffin said after Friday’s game. “In the last several games we weren’t quite being aggressive enough after the ball. But one of the things that really helped us was we switched the lineup a little bit.”

Senior co-captain Ryan Olson was moved up from the midfield. The switch paid off immediately as Olson scored the Mavericks’ first and only goal of the first half off an assist from Peter Gruszecki eight minutes into the game.

Griffin’s intent was to increase the pressure up front.

“I think that really kind of changed the tone of the game a little bit,” Griffin said. “That’s something we’ve got to do: be more aggressive. … I’ve been playing (Olson) back in the central-mid usually and he’s a workhorse. He does a lot of good stuff, but moving him up front that whole first half really helped create more pressure on their net for us just because he’s so aggressive.”

Meadowdale took a 2-0 lead on a Jack Gold goal off a pass from Frank DiCaprio at the 55-minute mark. Mountlake Terrace cut the lead to 2-1 when Alejandro Espino scored an unassisted goal at the 82-minute mark. The Hawks’ momentum then was cut short when the Hawks were called for a foul in the penalty box. Jordan Correa took the shot, which Mountlake Terrace goalkeeper Ben Winters successfully blocked. The ball, however, bounced out of Winters’ grasp and back to Correa, who then punched it through for the Mavericks’ third goal.

“We got into a little bit too much holding starting in the second half,” Griffin said. “We looked OK. We got a little complacent. We got a little lazy.”

Gold and sophomore Spencer Walior had the goals in the victory over Lynnwood.

Meadowdale’s ups and downs can be explained in part by the team’s youth. The Mavericks start only three seniors with the rest of the lineup consisting of juniors and a number of sophomores.

“Most of them (sophomores) were on the JV,” Olson said. “They swung up in the playoffs. We have a pretty young team.”

Olson hopes the victories help generate some momentum for the Mavericks.

“We have to keep the right mindset and keep playing hard,” he said.