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Throughout her years playing youth soccer, Edmonds-Woodway junior Bella Dreitzler has practiced taking shots on goal from different places on the field. But there’s one shot that she favors most, a bending looper into the far upper corner from the left corner of the 18-yard box.
“I love that shot; it’s my favorite,” Dreitzler said.
The years of practice on that particular shot paid off big as Dreitzler scored with that very bender late to give the Warriors a 2-1 victory over the Shorecrest Scots in a District 1 3A Girls Soccer Tournament winner-to-state, loser-out match played Thursday at Shoreline Stadium.
Dreitzler’s game winner has sent E-W back to the 3A State Tournament for the first time since 2018. “It feels really good; I’m really excited,” Dreitzler said after the victory. “We’ve been waiting for this.”
The winner-to-state district tourney match between the Warriors and the Scots on Thursday had been knotted at 1-1 for the entirety of the second half before the Warriors gained possession of the ball just on their side of the midfield line and with six minutes to go in regulation time. First, Audrey Rothmier zipped a pass to teammate Abby Peterson, who was darting down the center of the field. Dreitzler was on Peterson’s left, heading to the top corner of the 18-yard box and hoping Peterson would see her on the wing.
“I was yelling at her,’ Dreitzler said. “I was like, ‘Abby, pass me the ball.’”
Peterson did see Drietzler and laid a perfect pass to her teammate right outside the 18-yard box. Off that assist, Drietzler lifted her curling shot over the extended hand of Shorecrest goalkeeper Mickie McNeil and into the upper-right corner of the goal.
“I just took my chance,” Drietzler said. “I practice it a lot and I knew I could make that shot so I just took it.”
Following a quick celebration of the goal, the Warriors hunkered down and held on for the final five minutes of regulation time and three minutes of added time to claim the victory over the Scots and the ticket to the 3A state tourney.
Shorecrest, the second-seeded team in the District 1 tourney, didn’t make the final stretch of Thursday’s match easy for the fourth-seeded Warriors. In the 76th minute, Olivia Taylor got off a rocket of a shot inside the 18-yard box, but E-W goalkeeper Morgan Smith calmly blocked the shot and gathered in the rebound to stop a potential game-tying goal.
“She had an amazing game,” Warrior Coach Kim Plumis said of her freshman goalkeeper. “That was the best game she has had and she looked the most comfortable and the most confident. And she’s still 14 years old; it takes a lot of guts.”
Smith made five saves in the game and pounced on a couple more loose balls in the 18-yard box for E-W. The Warriors gave up just one goal when Shorecrest’s Pip Watkinson blasted a free kick from just outside the box through Smith’s extended arms just before the halftime whistle.
Plumis didn’t put any blame for the Scots’ goal on Smith. “There was pace on that ball and it was really high,” Plumis noted. “That’s a hard one.” Instead, Plumis said that giving up the foul that led to the Watkinson free kick was the real culprit.
The Warriors got on the scoreboard first Thursday when senior Lily Frank scored with a blast from nearly 30 yards in the game’s ninth minute. Frank, a key member of the E-W defensive backline, did have to leave the game for six minutes early in the second half after a collision with a Shorecrest player. Frank returned to action but was seen hobbling along the sidelines following the match.
“She has tendonitis right now, but I hope she gets better for next week because we really need her,” Dreitzler said of Frank. “She’s really tough; she works really hard.”
Plumis, now in her second year as Warriors’ head coach, wasn’t all that surprised that her team (12-3-3 overall this season) went 2-1 in the District 1 tourney and won their way into the 3A state tournament that begins next week..
“I knew this group, especially with 10 seniors, would really come together,” Plumis said. “And they have. Our biggest strength is our chemistry. They play for one another and they love each other and it’s like a big family. So I knew, if we pulled the right strings along the way, that our team would be greater than the sum of our parts.”
Now having achieved perhaps their biggest goal as a team this year, what do the Warriors think about their chances in the 3A State Tournament? “We didn’t talk about what happens next,” Plumis said. “We talked about this (the District 1) tournament and then we (would) cross the next bridge when we get there. We’ll have ice cream tomorrow and talk about it.”
“I think we’re going up,” Plumis then added. “Their attitude, their willpower, their togetherness, chemistry, whatever you want to call it — they’re raring to go. I think they’re of the mindset that we’re happy to be here and let’s make the most of it.”
Seeding for the WIAA 3A State Girls Soccer Tournament will be announced over the weekend, with games in the 20-team tourney beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 11. Seattle Prep is the defending 3A state champion but failed to make this year’s tournament field.
To view the entire District 1 3A Girls Soccer Tournament bracket, click www.wpanetwork.com/wiaa/brackets/tournament.php?act=view&tournament_id=4840.
To view the entire WIAA 3A State Girls Soccer Tournament bracket, click www.wpanetwork.com/m2/tourn.php?act=vt&tid=4855,
Prep Girls Soccer: Edmonds-Woodway vs. Shorecrest, Nov. 6 (District 1 3A Girls Soccer Tournament winner-to-state, loser-out game)
Edmonds-Woodway 2 – Shorecrest 1
Goal scorers:
– Lily Frank (Edmonds-Woodway), assisted by Audrey Rothmier, in the 9th minute
– Pip Watkinson (Shorecrest) unassisted on free kick, in the 41st minute (first half extra time)
– Bella Dreitzler (Edmonds-Woodway), assisted by Audrey Rothmier and Abby Peterson, in the 74th minute
Saves:
– Morgan Smith (Edmonds-Woodway), 5
– Mickie McNeil (Shorecrest), 4
Shots:
– Edmonds-Woodway, 12
– Shorecrest, 9
Corner kicks:
– Edmonds-Woodway, 3
– Shorecrest, 5
Yellow cards:
– Alison Schell (Edmonds-Woodway) in the 41st minute (first half extra time)
– Abby Peterson (Edmonds-Woodway) in the 69th minute
Records: Edmonds-Woodway 2-1-0 in District 1 3A Girls Soccer Tournament, 12-3-3 overall; Shorecrest 1-2-0 in District 1 3A Girls Soccer Tournament, 10-5-4 overall
Edmonds-Woodway next game: WIAA 3A State Girls Soccer Tournament loser-out game; Nov. 11, 12 or 14; opponent to be determined; time and place to be announced
Shorecrest next game: 2025 season completed
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