Girls Soccer: Briar Woods Survives OT Scare to Remain Unbeaten Since Spring Break

Briar Woods' Morgan McCarthy, Lina Granados and Chloe Barnes postgame


Ashburn (May 24, 2011) - The Briar Woods High School girls soccer team rolled into the Dulles District tournament on Friday as the hottest team in the area, not having lost since before Spring Break, but the second-seeded Falcons found themselves in danger of ending their season as they headed into overtime, tied 3-3, with a feisty No. 7 Potomac Falls.

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Excitement? Falcon coach Anne Vierkorn, who is pregnant, joked that she feared she was going to go into labor on the sidelines. Fear not, the Falcons scored just 61 seconds into the 10-minute overtime, with junior midfielder scoring on a beautiful shot off a nifty backheel pass from junior Lina Granados.

Leaving no doubt, Briar Woods senior Morgan McCarthy scored with less than a minute left in overtime to make it a 5-3 final. For McCarthy, who has been out while battling injuries, it was a second goal in the game since coming on as a substitute late in the second half.

McCarthy's first goal, off an assist from junior Samantha Russell, with 10:20 left put Briar Woods ahead, 3-2, after Potomac Falls had erased a 2-0 deficit. The Panthers, however, made it interesting as senior Kelly Abt struck for the second time in the game, just a minute after McCarthy's goal to knot it at 3-3 and force the overtime.

Briar Woods (12-3-2) will host No. 6 seed Woodgrove (7-8-2) tonight at 6 p.m. in the semifinals. Top seeded Broad Run(16-1-0) will host No. 4 Freedom (12-5-0). The Spartans only loss this season on the way to the district title was to Briar Woods.

On Friday Briar Woods struck first on a nice feed from junior Megan Benitez, as Lina Granados penetrated the box and squared herself 10 yards out, then with the Panther keeper frozen, Granados slid the ball into the left corner.

Falcon pressure was mounting as Granados found herself deep in the right corner. She fired across the goal mouth to forward Shell Davis who finished brilliantly with a header.

Abt cut the lead with a goal off a corner kick just before half and then Jenna Marzin scored midway through the second half to make it, 2-2.

Broad Run 4, Park View 0
Broad Run 4, Dominion 1
The Dulles District is home to one of the most grueling high school schedules in the Washington DC Metro area with 9 teams vying for top honors over a 16 game home and away schedule. The Spartans from Broad Run completed district play last Friday night on top with a 15-1 mark after a convincing 4-1 win over the Dominion Titans - 3.5 games ahead of its nearest competitor. Goals were scored by Whitney Church (2), Ellie Zoepfl and Dani Dangremond with one each.

The following day, the Spartans began tournament play with a 4-0 victory over the visiting Park View Patriots in a district quarterfinal game. Led by Erin Brady’s hat trick, the Spartans scored early on their way to their 16th win of the season. The Spartans are averaging 3.5 goals per game while only allowing 0.5 against.