Extra Effort Enough For Lady Falcons
When playoff time comes around, the regular season doesn't mean much anymore. When one loss can end a season, it's important to take the intensity shown throughout the year, and kick it up an extra notch.
Every minute of a playoff game could mean the difference between moving to the next level and watching from the sidelines. That's why it's important for a team to give it its all - and it's the sign of a true champion to keep going for just a little further.
That's the situation in which the Cox girls soccer team found itself Tuesday evening at Old Dominion University in AAA state quarterfinal competition. After Northwest Region runner-up Forest Park scored with just over three minutes left to send the game to extra time, the Lady Falcons knocked in two goals in just over a minute to take the next step toward their first-ever state title, a trip that their male counterparts will be along for as well.
"We had to go out really hard and put it out there and play," said Emory Camper, who headed in the first overtime goal in her Eastern Region-winning team's 3-1 victory. "We had to finish the game going full out and finish with all of our might."
Just six minutes into the contest, the Lady Falcons got a lucky bounce in every sense of the word. Just outside the keeper's box, Beth McCabe kicked a hard grounder through the center, while Chloe Russell followed it in.
Goalkeeper Emma Kruse charged forward to get the ball, but it bounced off her chest and into the air, where Russell headed it in for a quick lead.
Cox held a slight advantage for remainder of that half and the majority of the second. Though the Lady Bruins managed nine shots, the Cox defense forced nearly all their opponents to stay on the Forest side of the field, reducing their offense to near full-length breakaways, many of which were overtaken by Lady Falcon defenders, and those shots that did make it through seemed to go straight at Cox keeper Rachel King, who made six saves in the contest.
But as the clock ticked past the 3:30 mark, the Lady Bruins finally found a way through. Hauling down the right side of the field, Kara Nay sent a pass toward the middle for Denesha Soto. Soto, who'd been tormenting the Cox defense all night, rushed into the keeper's box, threw King off-balance with a stutter-step, and sent a bouncing shot into the net to tie the score.
Though Cox nearly took the game back in the closing seconds - one shot bounced off the Forest crossbar, another flew over the goal - the clock sounded, sending the game into extra time. In accordance with state public school rules, the teams must begin overtime with two full five-minute periods, after which come sudden death play and then penalty kicks.
McCabe attempted to set the tone for the extra period by blasting the kickoff down the left side of the field, and Russell quickly got possession. Moments later, Forest was called for a foul, and Bridget Montgomery sent a free kick toward the right side of the goal.
Kruse and Russell both jumped for it, but Russell's head won the race, as the ball bounced off it and across the goal. Charging forward, Camper headed the ball into the left side of the net just over halfway into the period.
"I just reacted quickly and headed it in," she said. "It was something I felt like I had to do."
Before the Lady Bruins could get on track, the action was back on their side of the field. A shot bounced off Kruse's hands and ricocheted off the goalpost, where someone tried to clear it out of the pack.
But the ball went straight to Jessie Klamut, who knocked it down and launched it back into the net with 1:20 left. With a comfortable lead, the Lady Falcons went into defense mode to keep Forest from threatening, and made it safely through the remainder of the first period and the second for the win, their third overtime victory of the season. They'll head to Chantilly's Westfield High Friday to face the winner of Tuesday's Godwin-Oakton game.
"It's nice to get back to the state semifinals," said coach Michele Clark, whose squad fell in last year's state semis, as well as the two previous state title games. "Hopefully this year we can finish it off."
Cox's boys got a quicker victory, but hardly an easier one. After Northwest runner-up Gar-Field nearly wore out the Falcons with its warp-speed offense in the first half, Cox recovered with a smothering defense and strong passing in the second.
With just under 15 minutes to go in the game, Will Martin sent a bouncing pass down the right side of the field, where David Ellis ran a footrace with three Indian defenders.
"I wanted to get on the breakaway as fast as possible, because all (the defenders) were faster than me," said the freshman Falcon. He did so, knocking a shot that curved just inside the left goalpost for the game's only score.
The Indians kept threatening, but their last effort sailed over the crossbar with under a minute left, and the Falcons edged the ball on the Gar-Field side of the field for the remainder.
"We had no doubt that we could win it," Ellis said. "We started out a little slow, but we came out and felt like we really dominated the last 20 minutes."
The Falcons, who have given up all of one goal since kicking off their winning trek into the Eastern Region tournament, will also go to Westfield Friday, where they'll take on the winner of Tuesday's Westfield-Cosby contest.
"They'll keep their intensity," Cox coach Scott Mead said. "I'm sure of that. We're young, but we're strong."
In other boys action, Eastern Region runner-up Hickory won 2-1 at Patrick Henry to advance in their first-ever state tourney to Friday's game against the winner of the Tuesday's Godwin-Robinson game. The Kempsville girls, who finished second in the Eastern Region, were leading 1-0 at Riverbend in Fredericksburg on Tuesday when their quarterfinal game was cut short by lightning. It's scheduled to resume today.
