With St. Anne’s-Belfield up by a goal, Addi Bolin raked her stick across Western Albemarle’s Jordan Haws face. Instantly, Bolin was tagged with a yellow card and a three-minute penalty.
So she waited. And waited.
While she waited, Western tied the game, STAB retook the lead and the Warriors knotted the game again while the Saints played man-down.
But Bolin made up for that penalty in a big way.
The STAB junior leapt back into the game with 51 seconds to play and shortly thereafter, created a turnover and then buried a shot with 10.2 seconds to play to give St. Anne’s a 12-11 victory over the Warriors.
“She was eager to get back in there and redeem herself,” said STAB coach Mary Blake. “And she did. I want it in her hands.”
Bolin finished with five goals for the Saints including the game-winner. Chelsea Staunton and Kathleen Battle scored two goals each, while Marti Fox, Kate McCullough and Lila Satterfield had a goal each.
The hotly-contested matchup featured several lead changes and major strategy shifts by each team. STAB jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but after a Western timeout the Warriors took control, going on an 8-2 run to end the half. A usually calm St. Anne’s squad struggled to settle down as the closing minutes of the first got a little frantic for the Saints.
St. Anne’s struck back though, adjusting defensively to Western’s attack. The Saints began chasing the ball more, and it threw Western out of whack during the early stages of the second half. Eventually, STAB closed the gap and eventually took a 10-9 lead with 7:35 to play on McCullough’s goal.
“(Blake) came back with a great defense, that was a good coaching move on her part,” said Western coach Nancy Haws. “We definitely did not guess what they were going to do.”
After Bolin’s penalty, Western’s Ellen Shaffrey, who had four goals, drew a penalty and buried an 8-meter shot to even the game, but STAB answered a couple of minutes later when Battle found the back of the net with 1:19 left. Western’s Abby Wheeler, who had two goals, refused to relent, tying the game once again by winning the draw, racing down field and drawing another penalty to set up another free shot and goal.
That set the stage for Bolin’s heroics.
“All I kept saying is ‘use your composure,’” Blake said. “I felt like we did a great job in that second half taking care of the ball.”
Jeanette Fellows, Kellen Haley and Jordan Haws had a pair of goals each for the Warriors.
