Story and photos by Doug Petrowski

Despite being down 1-0 in the first half, the Meadowdale Mavericks boys soccer team kept their poise and came back with two early second half goals to defeat the Mountlake Terrace Hawks 2-1 at Edmonds Stadium on Monday.

Taylor von der Hofen found a hole through traffic in front of the Hawk net to pound a low shot past Terrace goalie Aidan Murray in the second minute of the second half to put Meadowdale on the board. Fifteen minutes later, Maverick midfielder slipped a nice pass to teammate Chris Prasanna, who beat Murray for the go-ahead goal.

Meadowdale had fallen behind in the first half as a result of a spectacular goal by Hawk senior defender Chris Mitalas, who lifted a high shot over the outstretched arms of Maverick goalie Mark Steinke from a free kick 20 yards out along the left sideline.

Maverick head coach Wade Foley was pleased at how his squad came out of halftime despite being down a goal. “It’s always a gut check, but they weathered it pretty well,” he said. “They knew we had a lot of opportunities that we should have finished but we didn’t. I think the confidence was still there when we came out of the halftime break.”

Meadowdale did have numerous good chances for a first half goal as Murray was forced into making a number of diving saves, including one off the foot of Maverick Stuart Smith from 20 yards out late in the period. Another opportunity that looked like a sure goal, a header by Colton Davis, was cleared off the goal line by the foot of Mitalas just before halftime.

Terrace had plenty of opportunities of their own in the first half as their early pressure resulted in three corner kicks during the first 10 minutes. Unfortunately for the Hawks they couldn’t convert their many chances into more than just the Mitalas goal.

“The players did okay; we just couldn’t connect for goals,” admitted Hawk head coach Garry Hunter, who explained that injuries have slowed the progress of the Terrace offensive attack this season. “This is the first time our strikers had been back in the lineup together in the last three games. It’s hard to get the timing because we’ve had different players in a different lineup for the last four or five games.”

The Hawk second-half attack struggled as Maverick senior Evan Lee came in to play keeper for Meadowdale during the final 40 minutes.

With the win, the Mavericks improved their Wesco league record to 4-6, 4-8-1 overall. They will travel to Glacier Peak on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the Grizzlies. Mountlake Terrace falls to 1-8 in league play, 2-9-1 overall, and play the first-place Shorewood T-Birds on Wednesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Edmonds Stadium.