As darkness and mist descended upon the South Carroll field last night, it looked as if the Cavaliers' dreams of a second consecutive state 3A field hockey championship were also fading into the night.
But suddenly Niya Diggs accomplished what no one else could in the first 79:58 of the state Region III opening-round game.
She put the ball in the cage with two seconds left in the second sudden-death overtime period, giving the Cavaliers a 1-0 victory over Linganore in one of the most dramatic field hockey games in state tournament history.
If Diggs had not been able to find the goal, the game would have come down to a best-of-five strokes' shootout.
"I thought the ball was never going in the goal," said South Carroll coach Stacy Stem. "And we were going to strokes. I hate strokes. Winning like this was bad enough. I feel for Linganore."
Stem said she knows exactly how the Lancers (5-5-2) feel because her South Carroll team was eliminated on strokes by Liberty from state regional play two years ago.
"It was a terrible feeling," said Stem.
"Then last year in the opening round of the regionals, we scored to tie Howard in the final seconds of regulation and went on to win in overtime. This stuff is getting to be a habit for us."
Stem pleaded with her team throughout the game to become more aggressive, but her words never really got through to the defending 3A champions (6-2-5).
"A lot of our kids were really nervous and slow to get started," said Stem. "We weren't really fighting for the ball."
Tracie DiDio put on a good show in the first sudden-death overtime period for the Cavaliers, sprinting down the field for a lot of good scoring opportunities. But DiDio couldn't get the ball in the cage.
South Carroll advances to the state 3A Region III final tomorrow against the Centennial-Thomas Johnson winner.
For Diggs, it was a rare moment in the spotlight.
She had scored only one goal all season before last night's game-winner that came off a pass from April Hall.