Shorecrest and Shorewood headline Saturday soccer twin-bill

High school soccer playoffs are upon us, and what better way to open the District One 2A and 3A tournaments than a pair of games involving the two local girls soccer teams at Shoreline Stadium on Saturday November 1.

Shorecrest, the regular season WesCo champs (11-1-0 in league play, 9-3-3 overall) squares off against Sehome (8-1-3, 9-3-3) in the 6pm opener, while Shorewood (7-2-3, 8-5-3) hosts Stanwood (5-5-2, 7-5-3) at 8pm.

Shorecrest impressively won the 3A league title in spite of being a smaller 2A school, with their only league loss coming in Wednesday's regular season finale at Glacier Peak, 1-0.

The Scots have been led in scoring by speedy junior Sophia Viviano's eye-popping 21 goals, while veteran back-line defenders Alex Murphy, Mackenzie Parry, Kayla Holland and Sydney Coe have helped make life easy for Keeper Kate Wiper. Junior Alexa Iacalucci aggressively patrols the midfield with aplomb, and she, too, is a scoring threat, as evidenced by her 7 goals.

Viviano is making a case to be the next great soccer player to come out of the Shoreline School District, a list that includes SC grad Michelle Akers and SW grad (and SC assistant coach) Lori Henry, both Women's World Cup champions.

Shorewood follows in the nightcap starting at 8pm as they play Stanwood, a rematch of a 1-0 SW win over the Spartans on October 16. Senior Siena Helland leads the T-Birds in scoring with 9, while junior midfielder Lisa Jensen has a knack for always knowing where the ball will be going next, as well as an uncanny ability to find open teammates and pass the ball to them.

After Saturday's matches, the 2A tournament will be played at Shoreline Stadium, while the 3A games will be held at Arlington HS.

Brackets and game schedules can be found online.

(Editor: a reader asks if Arlington HS has covered stands?)