PUYALLUP — Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer coach Bill LeCompte said after Friday’s victory over Bellevue in the state semifinals that his team was yet to arrive.
Saturday, they did that and more.
The Warriors opened up a two-goal lead over Southridge and held on for a 2-1 victory to win the 3A state girls soccer championship.
“We wanted to arrive and they put it out there for everyone today,” LeCompte said.
It was the first team state championship in Edmonds-Woodway school history.
“It’s not happened in school history, so to be the first, that’s awesome,” LeCompte said. “The way that they went about it, just tons and tons of effort. Pushing it when we didn’t think we had it. In the second half we definitely struggled, but man, they gritted it out. I just couldn’t be more excited or happy for them.”
The Warriors didn’t struggle at all in the first half. Less than four minutes into the game, Edmonds-Woodway had a one-goal lead when senior Hailey Hull redirected a free kick from junior Ashleigh Fonsen.
“We try to score early as possible because, as you can tell from the past, once we score we keep scoring and scoring,” Hull said. “That was one of our goals to go out there and score early, so to accomplish that was really good.”
Scoring in the state championship game was quite the moment for Hull, who was able to return for her senior season after a knee injury suffered during her junior season.
“To score and win the state championship is something I could have never dreamed of,” Hull said.
Getting an early goal was something LeCompte talked to his team about before the game.
“We talked about it, you’ve got to score early,” LeCompte said. “Yesterday, they struggled. We figured if we could get in the goalkeepers head a little bit and make them be on their heels a little, it was something that we wanted to do. They’re a good team. They battled hard. They definitely earned a lot of respect with the way they played.”
Junior Madison Schultz, who scored all three goals in the Warriors 3-0 semifinal win over Bellevue, padded the Edmonds-Woodway lead in the 16th minute. After dribbling around a defender, she delivered a shot with her left foot that got past the outstretched hands of Southridge goalkeeper Brittney Yocom.
“It’s Madison at her finest, honestly,” LeCompte said of Schultz’s goal. “She’s just got the ability to find a hole, slip in and take it and go. She slotted one of the nicest balls I’ve seen in a very long time to that far post.”
Schultz has represented her country for the U-17 national team, but said Saturday’s win is the highlight of her soccer career so far.
“Absolutely number one,” Schultz said. “The national team is a big deal. It’s a development. Here, it’s (attaining) a goal. You play every year for that state championship. Until college when you’re competing for that national championship, it’s just always development, development. You kind of get to celebrate something here instead of always wondering if you’re getting better or not and making it to the next camp.
The school team also allowed her to share the moment with the people closest to her.
“It’s unreal,” Schultz said. “My best friends are over there and I went to and hugged my best friends. That’s the unreal part. With the national team you just don’t have that. It’s not that feeling. I cried. I don’t cry with the national team. I was beyond excited to make them, but the opportunity to represent your school and the people that you know, and then win, it’s a huge deal for me.”
The Warriors’ season started with its share of struggles. Despite being loaded with college-level talent, Edmonds-Woodway won just three of its first six games. The Warriors haven’t lost since.
The seniors on the team have won three of the four possible district championships while at Edmonds-Woodway, but the state championship is what they all really wanted.
“The senior class, I don’t know who’s going to rival them as far as accomplishments,” LeCompte said. “They’ve won three of four district titles. They’ve just grown as a class through the years and gotten stronger and stronger.”
The Warriors scored 16 goals in their seven playoff victories, but perhaps more importantly, gave up just two. Defense had been a focus for the Warriors since the season opened in September.
“We’ve really worked on it, especially after the way we started the season, we gave up a lot of goals early,” LeCompte said. “It’s just been one of those things where we’ve just constantly kind of reiterated, ‘just give, give, give and step up to those balls and good things are going to happen.’”
And Saturday was about as good as it gets.
“We started off the season and we never thought we would make it to the state championship,” Hull said. “I think all of us right now are just in shock because it just seems so unreal. I could have never imagined being here.”
At Sparks Stadium
Goals—Hailey Hull (E-W), Madison Schultz (E-W), Mercedes Haberling (S). Assists—Ashleigh Fonsen (E-W). Goalkeepers—Edmonds-Woodway: Kiera Towell. Southridge: Brittney Yocom. Records—Southridge 19-5-0, Edmonds-Woodway 19-3-1.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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