In convincing fashion, the Mountlake Terrace girls soccer team picked up an important road victory, as the Hawks defeated the Glacier Peak Grizzlies 3-1 Thursday night at Glacier Peak High School.
The win lifted Terrace’s regular season Wesco 3A record to 5-3-1 (6-5-2) and put them one step closer to clinching a spot in the District tournament in early November.
Head coach Evan Hatch liked the effort his squad showed against the Grizzlies, especially the final 40 minutes.
“That’s the first time since I’ve been coach that we truly dominated a half,” Hatch said. “And I don’t think it’s because Glacier Peak was weak. I think it was because we worked harder than we ever have.”
The Hawks scored twice in the second half while keeping Glacier Peak not only scoreless but without even generating a shot on keeper Alexis McRae’s goal.
“We tried to work on making sure that loose balls are collected by our team,” Hatch said, “and that had a lot to do with positioning yourself – anticipating where the ball is going to bounce and positioning yourself accordingly. That’s been a struggle for us in the past, but that was our strength (in) the second half”
Though Terrace had the upper hand for most of the first half play also, the teams went into halftime tied at one goal each. The Hawks scored in the 14th minute when Maddie Powers knocked in a pass from Isabel Kembel from five years out, but the Grizzlies answered in the 31st minute when Maddi Kuligoski buried a loose ball off a corner kick scramble.
Despite the deadlocked halftime score, the Hawks showed no signs of panic.
“We all felt really good because we were already dominating the game and we knew we could win,” Lily Hart said.
The confident Terrace squad struck early in the second half when Allison Lorraine dropped a corner kick right in front of the near post and a couple Hawk teammates pounced on the opportunity; it was McKenna Hunt who was credited with the goal by getting a right knee on the ball and slamming it into the Grizzlies goal.
Then with just six minutes left, Hart sealed the victory for Terrace with a 20-yard strike that just evaded a diving Grizzlies keeper Emilie Pedersen and slipped into the lower left corner of the goal.
“It wasn’t that good of a shot, but they (the Terrace coaches) said ‘frame it.’ I hit it and it went it,” Hart said.
The Hawks have scored six goals in their past two games, both 3-1 victories, and will try to keep their modest two-game winning streak going when they face a red-hot Edmonds-Woodway team that has won six-in-a-row on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Edmonds Stadium. First kick is scheduled for 7 p.m.
– By Doug Petrowski
MTHS Girls Soccer versus Glacier Peak, Oct. 16
Mountlake Terrace 1 2 — 3
Glacier Peak 1 0 — 1
Scorers
Maddie Powers (MTHS), assisted by Isabel Kembel, in the 14th minute
Maddi Kuligoski (GPHS), assisted Kiah Dayton in the 31st minute
McKenna Hunt (MTHS), assisted by Allison Lorraine, in the 49th minute
Lily Hart (MTHS) in the 74th minute
Records: Mountlake Terrace 5-3-1 in Wesco League, 6-5-2 overall; Glacier Peak 3-4-1, 4-7-1
MTHS next match: versus Edmonds-Woodway, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m. at Edmonds Stadium