Eagles, Raiders will meet in girls soccer final

Mills Godwin's girls soccer team will soon visit the State Group AAA tournament for the seventh time in as many years. Few of those trips have been as sweet, or as improbable, as the latest.

Godwin forward Marie Krider scored off Anne Lumpkin's corner kick with 2:00 remaining in the first sudden-death overtime to lift the Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Thomas Dale in the second of last night's Central Region semifinals.

Mills Godwin (15-3-1) will face Atlee, a 2-1 winner over Midlothian, in tomorrow's Central Region final at Cosby High School. Both clubs will participate in next week's state playoffs.

The Eagles, stymied for the first 80-plus minutes by Thomas Dale's gritty defense, sent the game into overtime when Sarah Bellotti scored with roughly 20 seconds remaining in regulation stoppage time. Knights goalkeeper Chrissy Dowlan slipped on the damp turf as Bellotti ran onto a through ball delivered by teammate Lauren Abraham.

Dowlan scrambled to her feet, but by then Bellotti was on top of the ball -- and the wide-open goal.

Eagles coach Ali Toole seemed stunned in the game's aftermath. Toole said the Knights "jumped all over us" while building a 1-0 halftime lead. She said she implored her club at the break to "stick with it...just stick with it. I told them, 'If you stay together and continue to believe in each other, I promise -- at the end we'll be OK.'"

Two five-minute overtime periods preceded the first sudden-death stanza. Krider, lurking near the right-hand post, found the ball in a crowd and slammed an eight-yard shot past Dowlan. Said Toole: "That's the kind of player (Krider) is. She has a nice knack for the goal. She always seems to be in the right place at the right time."

Thomas Dale (17-2-1) collected its goal in the 32nd minute. Forward Sarah Haws banged a rebound past Eagles keeper Jessie Ashworth.

Atlee (17-0-2) advanced when its young guns hit the bullseye twice in the biggest match of the Raiders' season thus far. Freshman forward Sam Armentrout and sophomore midfielder Kim Glymph scored picture-perfect first-half goals to carry the Raiders past Midlothian.

Glymph's goal, the eventual game-winner, typified the zest that fuels this young Atlee team. She accepted a feed from senior midfielder Lindsey Booth and set sail on a long run down the left sideline. She froze Trojans defender Olivia Warren with a wicked spin move, then pulled the trigger on a 20-yarder that curved just inside the far goalpost in the 35th minute.

Reluctance? None whatsoever.

"I pretty much had to shoot," Glymph said, laughing. "For two reasons. First of all, I basically had an open net. And second, I could hear Lindsey. She was shouting at me all the way: 'Shoot it...shoot it.'"

Armentrout scored from nearly the same spot to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead in the 5th minute. Her goal came off a throw-in from the left sideline. She sidestepped a Trojans defender and punched a 15-yarder past Trojans goalkeeper Kirsten Hancock.

Seven of Atlee's 17 athletes are freshmen or sophomores. Raiders coach coach Bruce Lovelace said his club has matured nicely as the season has progressed.

"I can't say enough about the way they've come together," he said. "It's one of those things. You never know. Some years it does and some years it doesn't. This year it did."

Senior midfielder Gracie Tubbs scored for Midlothian (13-5-2) in the 47th minute. The Trojans lost their best chance to pull even in the second half when Atlee keeper Taylor Hoy sprawled toward the left-hand goalpost to smother a shot in the 64th minute.

Midlothian ------------------------- 0 1 -- 1
Atlee ------------------------- 2 0 -- 2

M: Tubbs

A: S. Armentrout, Glymph

Saves: Hancock (M) 7; Hoy (A) 10

Records: Midlothian 13-5-2; Atlee 17-0-2

Mills Godwin ------------------------- 0 1 0 0 1 -- 2
Thomas Dale ------------------------- 1 0 0 0 0 -- 1

TD: Haws

MG: Bellotti, Krider

Saves: Ashworth (MG) 7; Dowlan (TD) 5

Records: Mills Godwin 15-3-1; Thomas Dale 17-2-1