It was fitting that their fourth meeting be as tightly contested as the first three — Monticello and Orange County needed overtime to decide the winner of the Region II semifinal match.
“It’s always, always a competitive game,” said Hornets coach Tricia Grabeel. “It’s just always one of those ‘dog it out’ kind of games when we play.”
In the end, it was Grabeel and her players celebrating as Lauren Seal was able to score on a breakaway in sudden death to secure the school’s second straight bid to the Group A/AA tournament held in Virginia Beach with the 2-1 victory.
“It’s always a goal that we set,” Grabeel said. “We always want to be able to dig our toes into that cold sand in November. Our team worked hard for this and it was something that we talked about all year round.”
Both teams netted goals in the first half. Hornet’s senior Annie Heyl put her team on the board first a little over half way through the first half, but Monticello answered right back with a goal of their own five minutes later on a shot from Sarah Mitchell.
It was back and forth in the second half, and with less than five minutes the Mustangs had a trio of scoring opportunities that came up short.
“We got a little out of place and wound up playing more defense that we would have liked,” Grabeel said. “We gave up some corners and that’s something we didn’t do last time we played.”
Once overtime began and the two teams began seven-on-seven play, the Hornets offense came alive. Monticello successfully defended an Orange short corner, but seven minutes into overtime, Seal was able to break loose and put in the game winner.
“I’ve had break aways against (Monticello) before and I’ve always missed them,” Seal said. “I got down there and told myself that I had to put it in. I didn’t know where the goalie was going, I looked up she stood out front so I went to the corner.”
It was a dramtically difficult way for the Mustangs to end their season, but coach Katie Owens had nothing but praise for her kids’ effort in defeat.
“My heart breaks for these kids,” Owens said. “I love them all and they gave it their best shot all year and I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Orange will travel to Western Albemarle on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the Region II championship.
