PUYALLUP — Madison Schultz has played all over the world.
But now the Edmonds-Woodway forward, who recently played in Jamaica for an Under-17 national team game, doesn’t want to be anywhere but Puyallup.
Schultz recorded a hat trick for Edmonds-Woodway to lead the Warriors to a 3-0 victory over Bellevue in the 3A state semifinals at Sparks Stadium Friday. The win, which gave Bellevue its first loss of the season, sends Edmonds-Woodway to the 3A title game against Southridge at 2 p.m. Saturday back at Sparks Stadium. Southridge beat Columbia River 2-1 Friday night.
“Something about playing with people you know actually watching you is a big difference. We went to Jamaica and yeah, 1,000 people were there but it’s just the locals. This is 10-times better,” Schultz said. “My whole family’s up in the stands and my brother’s sitting on the sidelines and in the locker room at halftime. It’s just unbelievable.”
Schultz netted her first goal in 28th minute after dribbling around a defender and shooting the ball past Bellevue goalkeeper Brittley Gaan. The junior lobbed another goal in from 18 yards out in the 35th minute over Gaan to give Edmonds-Woodway (18-3-1) a 2-0 halftime lead.
“I think once the first goal goes in there’s certainly a momentum change. We start off slow and we have no idea what’s our issue,” Schultz said with a laugh. “But once we get that first goal in it’s like you belong here.”
In the final five minutes, Schultz completed the hat trick after weaving around the goalkeeper again.
“It’s indicative of what she does,” said Edmonds-Woodway head coach Bill LeCompte. “But I look at it and say it’s not just her. We’ve got a clean sheet because of the defensive effort. We’ve got forwards in the right spots at te right time. Ultimately, she’s a piece of the puzzle.”
The three goals was more than enough for Warriors’ goalkeeper Kiera Towell. The senior had five saves — and got a bit lucky when a Bellevue shot hit the post and ricocheted back onto the field in the 55th minute — and recorded the shutout, her fifth in six postseason games, despite cold and wet conditions
“She’s had a hell of a season,” Schultz said of Towell. “She’s just shut out. Her hands are good. Even in this weather.”
Added LeCompte: “She is what she is. She’s phenomenal. She’s been there for four years. She’s stood tall in some really tough games and tight matchups and she definitely did it again tonight.”
Towell said she’s not affected by the drizzly weather. Or the big stage.
“Personally, I don’t really mind it,” the senior said. “You just need to be a lot more careful because the ball will skip and it’s harder to hold onto it. That’s the weather. You’ve just got to deal with it.”
The keeper does, however, appreciate the Edmonds-Woodway offense.
“It is definitely more fun to be keeper when you’re winning,” Towell said.
Bellevue came out firing in the early minutes but Towell and Edmonds-Woodway turned the Wolverines away. Bellevue defeated Edmonds-Woodway 2-1 in a non-conference game on Sept. 11, a game the Warriors had not forgotten about.
“It feels pretty good. We just played well,” LeCompte said. “There’s definitely some things we need to focus on and do better tomorrow. We definitely played a better game against them the second time in the season. We watched a lot of it and we figured out some of the things that we did (wrong).”
Coming into the contest, Bellevue (18-1) had allowed seven goals all season while boasting an undefeated record. That total is now 10 goals after Schultz’s hat trick that gave the Wolverines their first loss of the season.
“Soccer’s competitive and everyone’s competing to be the best,” Schultz said. “Definitely (we wanted) to redeem ourselves. We started off slow in the season and we pulled this off.”
Edmonds-Woodway has not lost since a 1-0 defeat to Shorecrest on Sept. 23. The Warriors are 16-0-1 since then and have allowed only one goal since the postseason began on Nov. 1.
“A lot of it is we put so much pressure on ourselves,” LeCompte said. “We put a ton of pressure on ourselves. We’re trying to make stuff happen when it wasn’t available. It was one of those things where we had to take a step back and that’s kind of what we did with them. We took a step back and said, ‘Breathe a little bit. It’ll happen.’ And it started to happen.”
After the game the Edmonds-Woodway team went to celebrate with several fans who skipped class to make the trip to Puyallup. The Warriors are hoping to be celebrating at Sparks Stadium again Saturday afternoon.
“We have to stay the night anyways,” Schultz said. “We might as well play in the championship game.”
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