SHORELINE — The later, the better as far as the Edmonds-Woodway boys soccer team is concerned.

The defending Western Conference 4A South Division champs kicked off the regular season with a pair of double-overtime dandies.

Edmonds-Woodway posted its second straight under-the-wire win Monday night, stunning Shorewood 2-1 at Shoreline Stadium.

Senior midfielder Reed Fife punched in the game-winner a minute into the second five-minute overtime period, finishing off a loose ball in the box.

Fife’s score pushed the limit almost as much as teammate Nicholas Varlamos’ winning goal in the 87th minute of Edmonds-Woodway’s 2-1 victory over district rival Meadowdale April 11.

“I don’t need them all like this,” Warriors coach Tony Gilman said after the Meadowdale win. “Trust me on that one.”

John Zevenbergen tapped a throw-in ahead to Varlamos for a nifty, backdoor score to dismiss the Mavericks.

“Those are the type of things we work on,” Gilman said. “We talk about that in a close game dead ball situations are critical.”

The Warriors (2-0 in the league, 5-0-1overall) owned a 1-0 lead over Meadowdale for most of the first half after Joe Thompson converted a line drive goal from 20 yards out in the sixth minute. In the 29th minute the Mavericks (1-1, 6-2-1) evened the score on Lamar Anderson’s penalty kick.

“I thought the first 15 minutes went the way it was supposed to go,” Gilman said. “We knocked the ball around, we got in quick and had quick touches. That first 15 minutes was us.

“We know when we play Meadowdale they’re going to bring 110 percent. If you don’t, you’ll be left standing. It’s a heckuva way to have to start league play.”

Shorewood (0-1-1, 5-2-2) was in position to hand the Warriors their first defeat of the season on Monday. Matt Friend threaded a swift roller between the bar and Edmonds-Woodway goalkeeper Hawk Mummey to break a scoreless tie in the 43rd minute.

But in the 65th minute, the Warriors benefited from a defensive miscue that resulted in an own goal by the Thunderbirds. Friend nearly gave Shorewood the lead again two minutes later, but his header sailed off course.

“I felt we controlled most of the game and we had them on the ropes,” Shorewood coach Drew Thompson said. “We let them off with an own goal. You get into overtime and (with) a little bit of luck, anything can happen.”

Historically, overtime games have given the Warriors nothing but trouble.

“In the past, we’ve had these type of games and we’ve lost them, so it was nice to win in the final seconds,” Gilman said. “We’ve come a long way in the past couple years in capitalizing on our chances and getting shots.”