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By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun Editor
Purcellville (June 3, 2011) - When Woodgrove High School girls soccer coach Erin Barrett was finally able to get her young team to settle down Thursday night after a dramatic, 4-3, overtime victory against Freedom clinched a AA state tournament appearance for the first-year program, her message was simple: "Let's keep this train rolling."
Wolverine sophomore Sarah Hardison was the engineer of the Woodgrove playoff train as she scored a hat trick on the night -- the first goal just 48 seconds into the Region II semifinal, the second goal after Woodgrove had fallen behind, 3-1, at the half and finally with three minutes to go in the second overtime.
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| Click here for a photo gallery with 400+ photos from the game |
"I was dribbling down and I looked up and I saw the defender in front of me and she was kind of off-balance so I cut it in hard and I just took the shot and it went in," explained Hardison of the game-winner. She now has three 3-goal games on the season, all in the playoffs. "I got dogpiled after the game. It was exciting. I have never gotten dogpiled before!"
Woodgrove SO Sarah Hardison on her hat trick and game-winner Thursay
The exuberant celebration came from a team that not only wasn't rolling during the regular season -- the Wolverines were 3-6-1 at one point -- but the program without any seniors wasn't even on the tracks.
"We just started believing in each other and playing together," said sophomore Brittany Basinger.
Seeded No. 6 in the Dulles District tournament out of nine teams, the Wolverines (11-9-2 recrod) have now gone 5-1 in postseason with the only loss to 3-time defending state champion Broad Run in the district finals. The two teams will meet in a rematch tonight at Broad Run at 6 p.m. in the Region II finals. Both teams move on to states with the winner tonight, hosting a quarterfinal on Tuesday, and the loser hitting the road.
While Woodgrove has been helped with the return of key players from injury for this playoff run, the chemistry and trust on the team has improved.
"We work together now and we know each other's strengths and weaknesses," said junior Katie Beebe, one of several key starters that transfered to newly-opened Woodgrove from the Loudoun Valley team that made it all the way to the AAA state semifinals last year.
Thursday, Woodgrove had to beat a good Freedom (15-7-0) team in the midst of the school's best-ever season but not without some bumps along the way as head coach Sara Gustafson stepped down for personal reasons before the start of the regional tournament, according to Eagles Athletic Director Matt Oblas.
That left Freedom assistant coach Kim Kammerdeiner in charge and she couldn't have been happy when Hardison found the back of the net less than a minute into the contest.
"They just played the ball through and I saw the goal keeper come off her line and I already had the defense beat so I just chipped it over the top of her," said Haridson, who had six goals in the regular season but already has 10 goals in six playoff games.
Freedom with a fleet attack down the flanks and some nifty passing put the pressure on Woodgrove after that quick goal and the Wolverines seemed a bit flat as the Eagles charged back.
Eagle senior Morgan Denfeld led the comeback with a goal off a nice strike to tie the contest with 27:07 left in the first half and the Eagles went up as senior Sydney Murley scored at 19:31 and then Denfeld struck again with 15:25 still play in the first half.
Freedom had defeated Woodgrove, 2-1 and 2-0 in the regular season, so the Wolverines could not afford to fall any further behind. Of course, Woodgrove has made a habit of falling behind in the playoffs, down 1-0 with 13 minutes to play at Brentsville in the regional quarterfinals, only to win 4-1.
"We've been here several times ... the girls know they can do it," said Barrett.
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| Click here for a photo gallery with 400+ photos from the game |
"We were like 'alright guys we have to step it up' and we did. We came out in the second half and brought it to them," said sophomore Bergen Elkjer.
For most of the second half, play was on Freedom's defensive end as Woodgrove not only tied the game with Hardison scoring less than five minutes into the second half on a shot that kissed off the near post and kicked in and a goal by sophomore Jackie Scott.
"Scott didn't play at all in the first half and she got out there in the second half and got it done," said Barrett.
For Scott, a JV call-up during the season, it was her first goal of the year and it came after a wild scramble in front of the Eagles net in a sequence that saw Woodgrove hit a post and crossbar before Scott poked the ball across the goal line. Scott's score with 23:20 left made it a tie game at 3-3 but all the momentum was with Woodgrove.
Hardison had two other great chances to notch her hat trick in regulation but Freedom held on. The Eagles offense found new life in the final minutes of regulation but the game headed to a 10-minute overtime period.
After a cautious first 5-minute segment by both teams, ends were swapped and two minutes later, Hardison from a pass by junior Lexi Clarke, found the space she needed.
"That was the best moment in my life!," said Elkjer of the sight of Hardison's shot curling into the back of the net.
Woodgrove held defensively and then at the final whistle the entire team mobbed Hardison and formed exhausted but happy pile on the turf field.
The win means that many of the girls will be playing Friday their ninth game in seven days as there were important travel soccer tournaments over Memorial Day Weekend that saw some teams play five games, followed by the four high school games during the week.
"We are exhaustged but we have learned to push through it and just keep going," said Hardison.
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| Click here for a photo gallery with 400+ photos from the game |
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