Doty’s second-half goal lifts Meadowdale over Arlington

EDMONDS — The Meadowdale Mavericks took an unexpected punch in the gut Saturday afternoon.

However, the Mavericks regained their composure, and now they find themselves one win away from the state tournament.

Meadowdale’s domination of possession eventually paid off as Sam Doty’s second-half goal gave the Mavericks a 2-1 victory over the Arlington Eagles in the first round of the District 1 3A boys soccer tournament at Edmonds Stadium.

Jonathan Flores added a goal and an assist for fourth-seeded Meadowdale (11-2-4), which beat Arlington 2-0 when the teams met in their regular-season finale Wednesday. The Mavericks advance to face top-seeded Glacier Peak in the semifinals Tuesday at Edmonds Stadium.

“This was a big win for us, especially since we just played them,” Meadowdale central defender and co-captain Craig Elder said. “They played much harder today, and playing games like this will make us work harder in the future.”

Stephen Caponey scored for fifth-seeded Arlington (8-6-3), which also received a strong performance from goaltender Nick McDonald. The Eagles host eighth-seeded Marysville Getchell in a loser-out game Tuesday.

“I think we came out pretty good,” Arlington coach Mike Gudgeon said of his team’s play. “We knew, playing Meadowdale on Wednesday, that they were going to possess most of the game and had a really strong attack. We just struggled to find our counterattack today.”

Meadowdale was in complete control of the ball throughout Saturday’s game, with long stretches where the ball remained in Arlington’s half of the field. The Mavericks seemed in little danger when they led 1-0 late in the first half, and it seemed just a matter of time before Meadowdale added to its lead.

But Arlington scored a shocker, tying it up on its first shot of the game to fluster the Mavericks.

“Our coach gave us a little pep talk and made us really think we wanted to go to state and hopefully win state,” Elder said. “So we put the effort in during the second half.”

After a brief flurry of Arlington pressure to star the second half, the Mavericks finally got back into their rhythm, and they found the winning goal in the 61st minute. Meadowdale pressured the Eagles deep in Arlington’s end, eventually creating a turnover. That gave Flores the opportunity to play Doty in free on the right. Doty found himself at a tight angle, but he still fired a shot that McDonald could only get a piece of before the ball found the back of the net, giving the Mavericks a lead they would not relinquish.

“Putting the pressure on their back four is going to make things happen, and that’s what we needed to do,” Meadowdale coach Brian Monroe-Jones said. “We’re a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals usually, we average just over a goal a game.”

Meadowdale dominated the proceedings early, and after a handful of half chances the Mavericks took the lead in the 16th minute. Stuart Smith slipped a through ball past the defense, giving Flores a clean breakaway. Flores slotted the ball past McDonald to give Meadowdale a 1-0 lead.

The Mavericks continued to control possession and had chances to increase their lead, but then Arlington scored a stunner against the run of play to tie it up. The Eagles had a throw-in on the right during one of their few forays into Mavericks territory, with Luke Larson heaving a long throw into the penalty box. Carter Mooring flicked a header to the far post, where a wide-open Caponey was able to get a foot on the ball and put it in the net to knot it at 1-1 in the 30th minute.

The Arlington goal sparked Meadowdale back into action, but McDonald made a diving save on Julio Abad’s drive, then tipped a dangerous cross from James Parks over the crossbar to keep it tied heading into the second half.

The Eagles had two good chances to take the lead early in the second half. Meadowdale goalkeeper Luke Lindgren came charging off his line for a lofted ball forward, but was beat to the ball by Caponey. However, defender Griffin Over backed Lindgren up to block Caponey’s follow-up shot. Then a wrong-footed Lindgren made a fingertip diving save on Jose Andrade’s swerving shot from just outside the penalty box.

From that moment on the Mavericks regained control and eventually Doty gave Meadowdale the winning goal.

At Edmonds Stadium

Goals—Jonathan Flores (M), Sam Doty (M) Stephen Caponey (A). Assists—Stuart Smith (M), Flores (M), Carter Mooring (A). Goalkeepers—Arlington: Nick McDonald. Meadowdale: Luke Lindgren. Records—Meadowdale 11-2-4, Arlington 8-6-3.