EDMONDS — What looked like a defensive battle early, quickly became a rout as the second half progressed in the 4A district playoff opening round game between Edmonds-Woodway and Lake Stevens Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors got all four of their goals after the 63rd minute on the way to a 4-0 victory.
Though disappointed, Lake Stevens coach Andy Knutson wasn’t surprised at the result, having lost to EW 5-0 during the regular season.
“I thought Edmonds deserved it; they played great,” he said. “They are the most talented team in the league and they showed that tonight.”
Edmonds controlled the ball and outshot the Vikings from the beginning of the game, but Lake Stevens’ Kiaya Paulson kept it close with spectacular save after save to keep the game scoreless.
“She was a wall for quite a bit of the game,” Warriors coach Bill LeCompte said. “She had a couple huge saves for us early on that made it frustrating for our team.”
Kiera Towell pitched a shutout in goal for E-W, though she wasn’t really challenged.
After a particular punishing barrage of shots from the advancing Warrior offense in the 63rd minute, E-W’s Rylee Peterson finally found a chink in the Paulson armor, blasting a shot to the back of the net to give the team the only goal it would need.
A heavy downpour began in the second half, which made everything a bit slippery. As a result Paulson misplayed a routine shot, which led to a Warrior corner kick in the 69th minute. Savanah VanCitters took the ensuing corner and found Alyse Pattison, who converted the goal to make it 2-0.
From there Lake began pulling defenders to try to muster an attack of their own, but the Vikings got the opposite result as the breaks started going the other way for Paulson and Lake Stevens.
In the 73rd minute Lindsey Aranda made it 3-0 and in the 74th Peterson headed a shot over Paulson to make it 4-0 on a VanCitters assist.
“They are probably going to do really well,” Knutson said. “I expect them to get to the state tournament.”
The Warriors advance to play the top seed from the Wesco North Tuesday night at Snohomish in the 4A district semifinals.
It’s a familiar opponent in a familiar location. The Warriors beat Snohomish on their home field in 2011 on the way to the state tournament.
“We know what we are getting into,” LeCompte said. ” They are a good quality team.”
The Warriors coach is obviously happy with Saturday’s result, but more so with his team’s level of play entering this no longer do-or-die game Tuesday.
“I’m just pretty proud of my girls they played well,” LeCompte said. “They figured out some stuff that we seemed to be missing early on in the season so its good to see.”
At Edmonds Stadium.
Goals— Rylee Peterson (E) 2, Lindsay Aranda (E), Alyse Pattison (E). Assists—Savanah VanCitters(E) 2, Kalia Machado (E), . Goalkeepers—Lake Stevens: Kiaya Paulson Edmonds-Woodway: Kiera Towell. Records—Lake Stevens 6-5-5 overall, Edmonds-Woodway 12-3-1.
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