It seemed like it was just a matter of time before Meadowdale seized the advantage against Arlington.
Coming out of halftime tied at 1, the Mavericks withstood a shaky start to the second half and eventually took control of Saturday’s first round District 1 3A boys soccer playoff game.
At the 53nd minute, a shot by Julio Abad was deflected by Eagles goalkeeper Nick McDonald. About a minute later, Colton Davis’ shot was just wide left of the net. Six minutes after that Jonathan Flores barely missed on a shot that also was left of the goal.
Then at the 61st minute, Sam Doty ended the frustration with a goal off an assist by Flores and Meadowdale went on to beat Arlington 2-1 at Edmonds Stadium.
“It was great. It felt amazing,” Doty said of the goal.
The key to the second half was putting the pressure on Arlington’s back four.
“High pressure, high pressure,” said Meadowdale coach Brian Monroe-Jones. “That’s going to make some things happen. That’s what we needed to do.”
Added Doty, “We kept winning the 50-50 balls. And that just kept us pushing forward toward their end.”
The Mavericks (11-2-4) face No. 1 seed Glacier Peak in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 12 at Edmonds Stadium. The Grizzlies beat Meadowdale 1-0 during the regular season.
“I feel like we’re a good team,” Doty said. “We’re going to keep going through.”
Glacier Peak is going to be a major challenge for the Mavericks, who Monroe-Jones felt were fortunate to lose only by one goal during the regular season.
“Our boys have to come ready to play Tuesday night,” Monroe-Jones said. “They’ve worked really hard. They’ve had a good season, but now the whole cliché, it’s new season time.”
Meadowdale took a 1-0 lead on a breakaway goal by Flores at the 16th minute. But Arlington (8-6-3) tied the score on a goal by Stephen Caponey off an assist from Carter Mooring at the 31-minute mark.
Monroe-Jones wasn’t pleased by Meadowdale’s defense on the goal.
“I thought we were better prepared for that,” he said. “We practice those types of things, defending corners and defending throw-ins. That was a wake-up call, to let a guy hang out there all by his lonesome and walk it in”
The Mavericks defeated the Eagles 3-0 on Wednesday. “It’s difficult to come back and try to play the same team right away,” Monroe-Jones said. “So I’m pleased we came away with the victory. I thought we had some good minutes on the field.”
Meadowdale caught a break early in the second half when goalkeeper Luke Lindgren found himself out of position and an Arlington player with the ball almost had a clear path to the goal. The Eagles’ shot, however, bounced off the back of defender Griffin Over and disaster was averted.
Based on this season, Monroe-Jones probably would prefer Tuesday’s game to be a low-scoring affair.
“We don’t score a lot of goals,” he said. “We average just over a goal a game and other than the Shorecrest game (a 5-0 loss) … we have never given up more than two.”
– By David Pan
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