After a lackluster start to their postseason, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks put together back-to-back winning efforts this week and are now one victory away from qualifying for the WIAA 3A State Boys Soccer Tournament.

Following a 2-0 triumph on Tuesday at Ferndale, the Hawks earned another 2-0 victory on Thursday, thumping the Shorewood Thunderbirds in a loser-out match played at Shoreline Stadium.

Junior Gavin Scott scored both goals against the T-Birds to lead the Hawks to victory. Both goals came off of set pieces, something Terrace coaches have been putting a lot of emphasis on in team practices.

“It’s nice when they work, and they were working well tonight,” Hawk Coach George Dremousis said.

“Midway through the season we thought, you know what, we’re not scoring goals so let’s go back and just focus a ton of time at practice on set pieces because we get ten, twelve of those a game and if we score on one or two of them that makes up for not getting them in the run of play,” Dremousis explained.

The first goal of the match Thursday was off a corner kick play that Dremousis confessed the team had been working on at practices this week — and a play that Scott had been asking for all season.

“I told Bobby (Stoyanov), I said, ‘All year I’ve been wanting the ball to my foot on a near post runner,’” Scott stated. “He gave me a near post runner and I put it in.”

Scott squeezed the shot past several Shorecrest defenders to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.

Then with less than twelve minutes to go in the match, Scott sealed the Terrace victory by out-leaping two T-Bird defenders and scoring off a header into the far upper right corner of the T-Birds goal.

“I didn’t think I could win the header over a tall guy like that but, I mean, you jump, you get it and you can score,” Scott said enthusiastically.

After scoring the remarkable second goal, Scott sprinted to his team’s sideline bench and was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.

Dremousis was pleased with his squad’s overall effort in their two back-to-back loser-out match victories this week. “Last Saturday I talked about the heart and the hustle that was missing,” Dremousis recalled, “and now, the last two games, it’s back. And in high school soccer that can make the difference between the wins and the losses.”

“In the first game against Edmonds-Woodway (the May 7 district tourney opener) we just didn’t bring that same passion, that same composure,” Dremousis added. “But today and against Ferndale we brought it.”

Terrace will have to find that passion one more time on Saturday, May 14, when they face the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks in the third place game of the District 1 tourney. The winner of the Hawks-Tomahawks match will qualify for the 3A state tournament set to begin next week.

“Let’s see if we can get to state against all odds. It would be a great story,” Dremousis said. “Now we’re one game away.”

Marysville-Pilchuck defeated Lynnwood 3-0 Thursday night to reach the district tourney third place game. To view the entire District 1 3A Boys Soccer Tournament bracket, click https://www.wescoathletics.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1885&sport=9.

In other Terrace sports action on Thursday, senior Mike Jenson shot a seven-over-par 79 at Snohomish Golf Course to be co-champion of the Wesco League South Divisional Boys Golf Championships. Jenson shared the medalist honors with Meadowdale’s Mason Harvey.

Prep Boys Soccer: Mountlake Terrace at Shorewood, May 12
Terrace 1 1 — 2
Shorewood 0 0 — 0
Goal scorers:
Gavin Scott (Mountlake Terrace) in the 12th minute off a corner kick
Gavin Scott (Mountlake Terrace) in the 68th minute off a throw-in
Yellow cards:
Malek Qibaa (Mountlake Terrace)
Records: Mountlake Terrace 7-8-4 overall; Shorewood 11-6-2 overall
Mountlake Terrace next match: versus Marysville-Pilchuck, Saturday, May 14, 2 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium (third place game of District 1 3A Boys Soccer Tournament — winner to WIAA 3A State Boys Soccer Tournament, loser out)

Prep Boys Golf: Wesco League South Divisional Championship, May 12
(Snohomish Golf Course, 18 holes, par 72)
Team scores:
1. Glacier Peak 423
2. Meadowdale 432
3. Shorecrest 438
4. Shorewood 466
5. Edmonds-Woodway 498
6. (tie) Mountlake Terrace DNQ
6. (tie) Lynnwood DNQ
Top individual scores:
1. (tie) Mike Jenson (Mountlake Terrace) 79
2. (tie) Mason Harvey (Meadowdale) 79
3. Young Lee (Meadowdale) 80
4. Jeremy Bennett (Glacier Peak) 81
5. (tie) Tyler Spalti (Glacier Peak) 82
5. (tie) Jason Swan (Shorecrest) 82
7. (tie) James Iazeolla (Glacier Peak) 86
7. (tie) Dylan Hayre (Shorecrest) 86
9. (tie) Chase Gardner (Glacier Peak) 87
9. (tie) Trevor Wallace (Glacier Peak) 87
9. (tie) Alex Saunders (Shorecrest) 87
Next match: 3A District 1 Boys Golf Championships, May 16-17, Snohomish Golf Course

–Story and photos by Doug Petrowski