Warriors edge Scots

LYNNWOOD — Despite an uneven performance in its final preseason game, the Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer team is heading into league play brimming with confidence.

Sophomore forward Alex Kirk scored the lone goal of the game 15 minutes into the first half to lead the Warriors to a 1-0 victory over Western Conference 4A South Division rival Shorecrest Tuesday night at Lynnwood High School.

With the victory, Edmonds-Woodway finished the preseason at 4-3.

“We’re starting to gel as a group,” said Edmonds-Woodway coach Bill LeCompte. “The core of the squad is really well set. We didn’t really display it tonight, but in the last few games we’ve really kind of started to figure things out and make it work. It’s coming together and it’s coming at the right time.”

LeCompte saw plenty to be happy about in the first half, when the Warriors dictated much of the action. Though Kirk scored the only goal, Edmonds-Woodway had several other scoring opportunities.

“The first half we struggled out of the start and started to really kind of get into a rhythm about 10, 15 minutes into it,” LeCompte said.

At halftime, LeCompte and his players talked about opening up the field. But in a reversal of fortunes, Shorecrest became the team that dictated the flow of the game in the second half.

Only through the stellar play of senior goalkeeper Laura Natterstad, who made a couple of spectacular saves, did Edmonds-Woodway pull out the victory.

The Warriors’ first three preseason games were a bit rocky but LeCompte likes what he’s seen the last four games.

“We’ve really started to address some of the things that … were definitely lacking in the first three, where we gave up goals early,” he said. “We seemed to focus a little bit harder on defensive stuff. We’re capitalizing on a lot more opportunities that we’ve been given and the goal would be to continue (that) going into league play and not really change anything. Just continue to fine tune.”