Saturday, June 05, 2004
Titans bide time, capitalize for crown
After controlling the ball without any results in regulation, Hidden Valley strikes for two goals in overtime.
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She bagged it. "We'd been trying to get that play to work all night," Grunewald said after being named to the all-RegionIII first team.
"We slotted it through the defense and I drove it to the corner."
Grunewald shoved a soggy feed from Mary Elizabeth Weaver over Lord Botetourt's Brittany Rogers with 4:13 to go in the first half of the split-overtime period. In the second half, Allie Lewis poked in a Bethany Wedge pass to seal a 2-0 victory.
The Titans, who won the River Ridge District, will host the RegionIV runner-up Tuesday in the first round of the GroupAA tournament. The Cavaliers will travel to play the RegionIV champions in the state tournament.
"The girls deserved this," Titans coach Jason Suhr said. "It was an exciting finish. We had all that momentum, I mean, we had looks but the goal didn't go in. We're strong in overtime - we've been there before - and we had it in thirty seconds."
Hidden Valley carried a strong finish from the second half into the overtime. Through the final five minutes of the second half, the Titans had the ball on a string as possession became paramount. Rain began pelting the field with 23 minutes to go, making the field even more slippery.
"The girls pushed through it," Suhr said. "It gets sluggish in the rain. The ball gets heavy, cleats get soaked, but our girls worked through it."
The Titans held control, forcing the Cavaliers to fall back in their zone. The trio of Grunewald, Rebecca Danahy and Lewis kept the Cavaliers scrambling with solid footwork and continuous threats.
"Defense on both sides made this game," Lord Botetourt coach Shelly Roberts said. "We had graduation last night and the girls were a little tired and they ran us down. Our midfield broke down some and it wasn't where we had it the other night. It was evenly matched, but it was all we can do."
The Titans controlled play through the majority of the first half but they had a handful of quality scoring chances stymied by Rogers. With 14:11 remaining in the half, Grunewald sent a cross to the left wing. The pass was deflected back across the 18-box to Wedge. Wedge delivered a shot over the right side iron. Grunewald ripped a centering feed toward the net, but Rogers' smart positioning blocked the shot.
On a free kick with 6:46 to play, Grunewald launched the ball to the top left corner, but it was just high of the cross bar.
Lord Botetourt played best during the middle portion of the first half, controlling play from the 30-minute mark through the 15 to go. The Cavaliers' best chance of the half came when they had three consecutive throw-ins from the left side of the keeper. Each time, the defense was able to knock it back out.
On the final pitch-in, Botetourt turned a shot toward the goal, but it was knocked over the end line. On the ensuing corner kick, Lauren Dooley lobbed a nice ball in, but it skipped through the box and over the end line. Jacqui Hartman served the following corner kick and the Titans cleared, turning the control back to their favor through the end of the half.
