Long Reach girls soccer knocks out Mt. Hebron in penalty kicks

Mt. Hebron finally settled in in the last 20 minutes of the half, however, and capitalized on its efforts early.

With the Vikings defense pressing, Long Reach played a long ball back to goalkeeper Stephanie Moy (six saves), but junior Julz Lamparella did not give Moy an opportunity to handle the pass back cleanly. Lamparella hustled and got a deflection on the attempted clear, picked up the loose ball and slotted her shot in the back of the empty net for the, 1-0, lead with about five minutes left before halftime.

"I couldn't have asked for a better performance from our team," said Mt. Hebron coach Tim Deppen. "From pregame warm up we were ready, we were focused, we had a great couple days of practice this week and yeah, we were prepared. We were prepared for PK's. We were prepared for everything. It's just an unfortunate way to lose."

The Vikings held on to the one-goal advantage at the break, but Sokoya evened the score about midway through the second half.

Sokoya found the loose ball from a free kick played in by teammate Julia Bonner. She then worked the far end line, cut the ball back to lose a defender and chipped her shot just outside the six-yard box, over the head of Pallozzi and in to the goal.

"Like we do every time when a goal is scored, we pick our heads up, we come together and we know what we need to do," Sokoya said. "I basically just tried my luck. I knew it was wet outside. I tried to test the keeper – Kait [Carino] was there – I don't know if I got the goal or Kait got the goal, but I'm just happy we put it in."

"Busi has been our clutch player. She probably has more goals than anybody on this team as a defender," added Haddad. "I push her up top when we're down and she comes up big for us. She's a hard worker. She's just a hard-nosed player."

With the game knotted at one, Long Reach and Mt. Hebron went in to two 10-minute sudden death overtimes. The Vikings found a few more opportunities in the extra 20 minutes of play – out-shooting the Lightning, 3-1, in that span – but could not put away their chances.

Freshman Alexa Dragisics very narrowly had Mt. Hebron rushing the field in joy, as she found space behind the defense and sent a shot destined for the far right corner, but Moy got her fingertips on the shot to steer it wide.

"We do need to put those away when we have them that's a message that's been on-going this season, but I also look at players like Alexa Dragisics and know she is going to continue to make those opportunities happen for herself and… she's going to make opportunities happen for other people who are chasing and getting into a good space," Deppen said. "So I try not to get frustrated with the lack of finishing, I try to get really excited about she's a freshmen this year and she is such a hard worker. It is amazing to watch."

After no golden goal, Long Reach stepped up and took the first penalty kick of the night. Junior captain Jessie Lee buried her attempt bottom right corner, putting the pressure on the Vikings.

Mt. Hebron junior Mackenzie Folch aimed her attempt toward the left side of the net, but Moy came up with the huge save to keep the Vikings on their heels.

"Stephanie has never played goalkeeper before," Haddad said. "She is a converted goalkeeper, but she's an athletic player and a smart player... She made that mistake [on the first goal], but she knew immediately. She said, 'That's on me coach.' And I said, 'Stephanie I believe in you just don't do it again,' and she came up big for us."

Sokoya, sophomore Gabriela Cabrera and freshman Paige Rosenfeld netted their shots for the Lightning, while junior Kaitlin Rice and sophomore Brie Tabenske drained their penalties for Mt. Hebron.

With Long Reach up, 4-2, the Vikings needed to hit on their next attempt to stay alive, but junior Emily Hammond put a little too much on her kick, sailing it over the cross bar.

"My final words were that PK's are a terrible way to decide a game," Deppen said. "It really does not sum up what happened on the field. There's a lot of times that you don't get rewarded with a win for the hard work you do on the field and my final word after that was to celebrate a great season and be proud of what you did. We improved from last year… we got a lot of really great freshmen and sophomores to look forward to who are coming back next year and my last message was to celebrate our seniors."

Mt. Hebron ended its season with a 5-6 county mark and 7-8 overall, while Long Reach (2-6-3, 3-7-3) will try and pull another upset against the top-seeded Raiders.

The Lightning knocked out Atholton last year, 1-0, and came back from a 3-1 deficit on Oct. 18 to hand the Raiders their only tie of the season, 3-3.

"Not to take anything away from Atholton, they are a really, really good team loaded with talent and when we were down, 3-1, against them [earlier this year] we just looked to each other and decided that we got nothing to lose," Haddad said. "We're just going to go for it and that's the same mentality that we're taking to them next week."

Long Reach (2-6-3 county, 3-7-3 overall) 1, Mt. Hebron (5-6 county, 7-8 overall) 1 (Thursday, Oct. 27)

Goals: LR – Sokoya; MH – Lamparella.

Saves: LR – Pallozzi 4; LR – Moy 6.

Halftime: 1-0, Mt. Hebron.