Woodinville ends Shorewood girls season

SHORELINE

Shorewood’s surprising run through the 4A state playoffs came to an abrupt end Saturday.

Woodinville, meanwhile, now has a chance to surpass its finish from last year.

Woodinville senior Heather Thomas lobbed a free kick in from 30 yards out in the 10th minute to put the Falcons up early, Stine Schoening scored in the 35th minute off an assist from Taylor Bolibol, and Woodinville hung on to take a 2-1 4A quarterfinal victory Saturday, Nov. 11 at Shoreline Stadium.

The Falcons, who finished third in state last year, play Jackson on Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. at Harry Lang Stadium. The winner of that match plays in the state championship.

“We won four elimination games in a row to get to this point,” Shorewood head coach Nathan Davis said after his team was eliminated. “These girls stepped up under pressure big time.”

Shorewood, the third seed from District 1, wasn’t expected to reach the quarterfinals, but stunned undefeated Kentwood in the opening round of state.

“We spent a weekend taping Kentwood,” Woodinville head coach Sully Hester said. “We put together a strategy for Kentwood. Then we called the newspaper and found out they’d lost.”

Woodinville (13-3-1) appeared determined not to overlook Shorewood (15-4-2), controlling the ball early and often and making few if any mistakes.

By the time senior forward Xana Bartlett attempted Shorewood’s first shot, the game was already 20 minutes old and Woodinville held a 1-0 lead.

Woodinville capped off a dominant first half when Schoening beat Shorewood goalie Madison Hollenbeck on a breakaway ball and punched it past a diving Hollenbeck for a 2-0 advantage with five minutes remaining.

“(They won because of) possession,” Davis said. “They possessed the ball better than we did.”

But Shorewood came out much more aggressive in the second half, forcing the action deep into Woodinville territory multiple times before Bartlett scored off an assist by Louise Albin in the 63rd minute.

“When you’re down 2-0, you kind of realize you have nothing to lose,” Davis said. “I thought we won the second half for sure.”

Bartlett’s goal was the lone score of the second half. Woodinville out shot Shorewood 12-7 for the game.

“We’ve improved all season long (after losing eight seniors),” Hester said. “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet.”

T-birds stun unbeaten Kentwood

Anastaja Norins scored twice as Shorewood survived an offensive onslaught by Kentwood to win its first state playoff game since 2001 Wednesday, Nov. 12 at French Field in Kent.

Kentwood had 28 shots to Shorewood’s seven but it was the Thunderbirds who scored first on its first shot of the game.

In the 12th minute, Norins collected a cross from Xana Bartlett turned and booted the ball into the net from eight yards out.

“I worked to get there,” Norins said. “We needed that goal in the first couple minutes to start things off.”

Norins scored again in the 53rd minute off a deflection from the left side after a corner kick by Lisa Santroch.

Kentwood finally broke through in the 66th minute when midfielder Laura Moore scored an unassisted goal from five yards out.

Kentwood (16-1-2) came into the game as the undefeated champions of the South Puget Sound League North Division. The Conquerors had only trailed one other time all season before Shorewood took a lead on them.

But Shorewood (15-3-2) kept frustrating the Conquerors attack behind a fine defensive effort.

“You can definitely dominate with chances and ability to put pressure on a team,” Kentwood coach Aaron Radford said. “It’s that last touch. If it doesn’t go your way, it doesn’t go your way. That was us tonight.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Madison Hollenbeck had nine saves and junior defender Pamela London covered Kentwood’s top forward, Chelsi Pennington, like a blanket the entire game.

“Our defense this whole playoff series has been phenomenal,” first-year Shorewood coach Nathan Davis said of the T-birds, who had to win three loser-out games to get to state for the first time since 2002. “(London) just chased (Pennington) around the field and wouldn’t let her get the ball. She did a fantastic job.”