Taking advantage of a Mountlake Terrace Hawks’ defense short on experience, the Lynnwood Royals peppered the Terrace goal with shot after shot, scoring three times and running away with a 3-1 victory Tuesday in a non-league match played at Edmonds Stadium.

Junior midfielder Madison Hinkel scored twice and senior Cassidy O’Dell added a goal of her own for the Royals as the squad raised its record to 2-0-0 in the early 2017 season.

Lynnwood could have put more goals on the scoreboard if it wasn’t for the work of Terrace goalkeeper Maisey Knorr. The sophomore made six saves in the match, her best coming in the 57th minute when she dove and knocked aside with her right hand a 10-yard strike by O’Dell.

Knorr stopped six Lynnwood shots in total on Tuesday. The Royals also had a goal turned aside when a free kick from a sharp angle by Carissa Thompson hit the left goalpost and bounced away.

Royals’ Coach Mark Mcalexander isn’t too surprised by the great start his offense has had this year – Lynnwood has scored five goals in its two wins this year after averaging just over one goal per match last season.

“Our entire midfield and both our strikers – they’re all back from last year,” Mcalexander said. “They’ve had a year playing together, they understand each other a little bit better, so they’ve had minutes together.”

“They’re all playing the same positions and I haven’t changed anything tactically,” he added.

While the Lynnwood offense was rolling on Tuesday, the Mountlake Terrace attack also had plenty of shots on goal, primarily from co-captain Julia Hart. The senior scored the Hawks’ lone goal in the eighth minute after slipping past Royals’ goalkeeper Isabella Shields inside the 18-yard box and sliding a shot into an open net.

Hart also hit the left goalpost with a shot in the 12th minute and had two great chances in the game’s final five minutes – blasting a shot directly into the waiting arms of Shields in the 66th minute and missing wide left on a short lob attempt in the 69th minute.

(The match was shorted to 70 minutes by the two teams coaches in order to preserve their players for the start of Wesco League play on September 14.)

Mcalexander called Hart a “special player” for the Hawks and devised defensive plans specifically in an attempt to slow down the senior. “Even though, she still had a ton of shots,” he noted.

It was the last line of the Royals’ defense — Shields in goal — that Mcalexander gave the most credit to in stopping Hart and the rest of the Hawks’ offensive attack.

“Hands down, the MVP for this game,” Mcalexander said of his goalkeeper. “I think she had three goal line saves, took two hard shots to the body going up for high balls – definitely the player of the game.”

“She’s only a sophomore, so that gives us three years of (her) talent,” Mcalexander added. “She’s got great height and good hands.”

The Royals and Hawks will get another chance at each other later this year when they meet in a Wesco League matchup Oct. 10 at Lynnwood High School

Prep Girls Soccer: Lynnwood at Mountlake Terrace, Sept. 12

Lynnwood 2 1 — 3
Terrace 1 0 — 1

Goal scoring:
8th minute — Julia Hart (Mountlake Terrace)
9th minute — Cassidy O’Dell (Lynnwood)
32nd minute — Madison Hinkel (Lynnwood)
68th minute — Madison Hinkel (Lynnwood)

Saves:
Isabella Shields (Lynnwood) — 7
Maisey Knorr (Mountlake Terrace) — 6

Records: Lynnwood 0-0-0 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 2-0-0 overall; Mountlake Terrace 0-0-0 in 2A/3A Wesco League, 1-2-0 overall

Lynnwood next match: versus Marysville-Pilchuck, Thursday, Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m. at Marysville-Pilchuck High School

Mountlake Terrace next match: versus Everett, Thursday, Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m. at Lynnwood High School

–By Doug Petrowski