Walkefield sophomore Julie Anne Pretty saved her best for last by scoring her only goal with 23 seconds gone in what is referred to as “sudden-victory” overtime to lead Wakefield to an 11-10 win over Hoggard on Tuesday night in a NCHSAA 4A third-round playoff game at Scott Braswell Stadium.
The Lady Vikings (18-2) had jumped out to a 4-0 lead early in the first half of the game only to see Wakefield come back to trail by just one at 5-4 as the half came to a close, then vaulted out to a 9-4 lead to open the second half before watching the Lady Wolverines tie the score at 9-9 on a goal by senior captain Abby Blakely – her fifth goal of the game and fourth in the second half – with 71 ticks left on the clock in regulation.
Wakefield took its first lead of the game on a goal by sophomore Megan Blawas in the first of two three-minute overtime periods. Hoggard sophomore Lindsey Yelton took a nice pass from junior Julia Buehler and converted it into a goal with 1:24 remaining in the second three-minute overtime period, setting the stage for the first sudden-victory, three-minute overtime period.
“They are very good team and they have obviously been together a long time,” Hoggard Coach Erin Redmond said. “Their instincts made the difference in a game like this, and at this level. There were several momentum shifts.
“We did not do a very good job with ball possession and we kept turning the ball over and weren’t getting it back, and we shot ourselves in foot quite a bit and could never maintain the momentum. They were very aggressive to the ball and we got caught in-between.”
The Lady Vikings started out like they were going to blow the visitors from Raleigh out of the stadium. Buehler and classmate Taylar “Jersey” Herman took turns from goal-scorer to assist-maker with Buehler scoring 2:18 seconds into the game off a pass from Herman, and Buehler returning the favor by assisting on Herman’s goal 5:20 later to produce a 2-0 Lady Viking lead.
Sophomore Lindsey Yelton scored an unassisted goal 58 seconds later, and Buehler and Herman hooked up again at the 15:01(remaining in the half) mark with Buehler finding the back of the net off a pass from Herman to make it 4-0 less than 10 minutes into the contest.
Back came the Lady Vikings (17-2). Claudia Damiano, Abby Blakely, and Megan Blawas scored back-to-back-to-back goals to narrow the deficit to 4-3 with 5:49 left in the first half. After a Herman score off a Buehler pass made it 5-3 Casey Sprague scored for Wakefield with 43 seconds left in the half to send the teams into the intermission at 5-4.
Momentum jumped back on the Lady Vikings’ shoulders as Kristin Flynn, Herman, Yelton, and Buehler – on a power play – scored – in succession to make it 9-4 7:14 seconds into the second half.
The momentum switched again as Wakefield came back. Blakely scored thee-consecutive goals in 2:45 seconds to bring the Lady Wolverines to within two at 9-7, Ashley Blawas scored to make it 9-8, and Blakely found the back of the net again for her fourth goal of the second half to tie the game at 9-9 with 1:11 left in regulation.
Megan Blawas scored in the first overtime period – Wakefield’s first lead in the game – and Yelton tied it in the second three-minute period to set up Pretty’s game-winner.
“It was a great high school game and we knew coming down here, on paper, we were very evenly matched and I knew it would come down to the end, and it did,” Wakefield Coach Denna Grasso said. “Getting down and coming back like that is how we’ve been the last two or three games and I don’t particularly like it.
“But one thing I want to say is that the Hoggard girls showed a lot of class in the line, saying good luck against Apex. I like that kind of sportsmanship.”
Wakefield will play Apex on Friday. Apex defeated Chapel Hill 16-7 on Tuesday.
For the Lady Vikings the season ended short of where they had hoped but Redmond was pleased, and proud, of her team.
“These girls came a long way from the first day of tryouts,” Redmond said. “I can’t fault them for all the hard work and getting here against a good team like Wakefield and playing a game like that
“We graduated quite a few seniors last year that created this team this year and we’re young (5 seniors) so I think the future is bright.”
Wakefield 4-5-1-0-1=11
Hoggard 5-4-0-1-0=10
Goals: (H) – Julia Buehler 3, Taylar Herman 3, Lindsey Yelton 3, Kristen Flynn. (W) – Abby Blakely 5, Claudia Damino, Megan Blawas, Casey Sprague, Ashley Blawas, Julie Anne Pretty.
Assists: (H) – Taylar Herman 3, Julia Buehler 3. (W) – Ashton Smith, Ariel Gold, Abby Blakely.
Shots: (H) – 22; (W) – 27.
Saves: (H) – Miranda Thomas 9; (W) – Jessica Lynch 9.
