By Quint Turner

The number-one ranked 3A girls soccer team in the state of Washington, the Meadowdale Lady Mavs, continued its streak of undefeated play with a 3-0 win over the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks Tuesday. Goalkeeper Ashley Routh recorded her team’s seventh shutout victory of the year, behind a great defensive line that did not allow a Tomahawk to have possession of the ball inside the Meadowdale box until the 57th minute.

Jasmine Parsley scored the first Maverick goal in the 9th minute, and from then on, it was all Mavericks on offense. Kendall Raecker scored the second goal in the 47th minute, and Megan Zollars scored the third one in the 53rd minute, stopping any chance the Tomahawks had for a comeback.

The Mavs put pressure on the Tomahawk backline immediately. In the 3rd minute, Emily Crichlow used some fancy moves to get inside the box, past some defenders, and took a low shot that had to be saved by M-P goaltender Melissa Scheutze. The next minute, Crichlow started another opportunity when she hit a crisp pass to Alyssa Navlet near the box, and Navlet sent a cross that Zollars knocked down and took a shot with it. Scheutze made the save though, and the score remained tied.

Then the 9th minute came. Chrichlow was fighting with two defenders inside the Tomahawk box for a clean look at the net, but the ball was eventually cleared right to Parsley. She took one touch to set up a shot, and hit a low ball that was deflected by a defender before finding its way past Scheutze, and the Mavs were up 1-0.

The Mavs continued to put on pressure throughout the half. Hannah Shouse took a free kick for the Mavs in 19th minute from 50 yards out, and sent a booming ball into the box. Crichlow got a foot on the ball, but just barely sent it wide, and it remained 1-0. In the 24th minute, Taylor Monroe-Jones had an open shot from 25 yards out, and sent it on net, but Scheutze made the save easily.

The Tomahawks’ best chance came in the 34th minute, when a free kick by Bianca Acuario from 40 yards out reached the box, but Routh snatched the ball out of the air to prevent any chances. The last opportunity in the half for the Mavs came when Crichlow stole the ball from Acuario near the Tomahawk goal box, dribbled around her and sent a floating shot that was headed for the top right corner of the net. However, Scheutze jumped up and made a great save—preventing the goal and keeping the Tomahawks within one at the half.

In the second half, the Mavs almost went up 2-0 right away. Navlet stole the ball at midfield, and sent it down the sidelines to Erica Beaulieu. Beaulieu took it up into Tomahawk territory, passed it back to Navlet near the goal box, and Navlet passed it onto Zollars. Zollars got a low shot off from the top of the box that just went wide of the net.

The Mavs did go up 2-0 in the 47th minute though. Roslyn Stapleton took a corner kick, and sent a beautiful pass into the box, that was headed in by Raecker. It was a perfect set up and finish from captain Stapleton to junior Raecker, and the Tomahawks never recovered from that. Six minutes later, the Mavs struck again. Beaulieu took a throw-in near the corner of the field on the Tomahawk side, and passed it to Chrichlow. She fought off a few defenders before being able to get a low cross to Stapleton inside the box. Stapleton passed it on to Zollars, and she sent a booming one-timer past goaltender Scheutze to make it 3-0.

In the 57th minute, the Tomahawks got their first real scoring opportunity. Acuario stole the ball away from Tisha Parsley on the Maverick sideline, and dribbled the ball into the box. She sent a low shot that was blocked by Hannah Shouse before it had the chance to get to goaltender Routh. The Tomahawks got their first shot in the 74th minute, when Alexandra Wright took a free kick from 30 yards out and sent it high over the crossbar. The Mavs almost made it 4-0 twice in the 79th minute when Crichlow stole the ball at midfield, passed up to T. Parsley down the sidelines. Parsley sent the ball back to Crichlow on a give-and-go, and then got the pass back from Chrichlow at the top of the Tomahawk box. T. Parsley got a low shot off that was saved by Scheutze, and the rebound squirted to Navlet. Her low shot was also saved by a diving Scheutze, and the ball went out of bounds. The Mavericks ended up winning the game 3-0.

With the win, the Mavericks improve to 11-0 (8-0 in conference) on the season. Their next game is Thursday against Mountlake Terrace at Edmonds Stadium at 7:30 p.m., which is an away game.

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.