By Quint Turner

Meadowdale Mavericks fans can be proud of the fact that the girls soccer team made it to the state 3A playoffs. But there was little else to cheer about Thursday night as Meadowdale lost  to Prarie 2-0 at Edmonds Stadium.

In the first half, the Mavs saw the Falcons (from Brush Prairie near Vancouver, Wash.), dominate on their side, playing their game of fast, physical offense. In the second half, Meadowdale barely saw the ball.

As Coach Don Nelson said later, “We weren’t able to play our game. They were beating us to the ball and just plain out hustling us.”

The game for the first half was mostly a back-and-forth battle between each side kicking the ball to the other and hoping for a breakaway. A few good chances were started by Falcons star midfielder Kindra Scobha, who created a lot out of nothing.

In the second half, Prairie jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when a through ball went past the Mavs D into the box and was tapped in by Falcon Hannah Hainlane on a bad break. “We thought we had numbers back, but the ball just got through,” Nelson said.  The goal came in the 4th minute, and was assisted by Scobha.

Later in the half, Prairie scored s second goal  off a shot by the talented Scobha that ricocheted off goaltender Julia Grossenbacher, and was tapped in by Cassie Hoyt. This came in the 23rd minute.

On the Mavericks’ side, freshman Emily Critchlow played a solid forward position and had one great redirect early on that was saved. In her final game of her high school career, senior Marcail McDonald gave several good breakaway chances to the Mavs, but in the end, they weren’t able to bury it.

“It was a tough way to end a season, but we had a heck of a run,” Nelson said.

Prairie advances to play against Kennedy High School next week.