When a pre-game power failure darkened the scoreboard and the press box, Brian Gorecki stuck his head out the box's window and continued announcing, shouting out the names on the team rosters. Then the fans, recognizing the situation and unprompted, started singing the national anthem.
But there was no power outage on the field, as Glenelg jumped to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 3-2 win over Marriotts Ridge in an electrifying Class 2A North Region semifinal contest this evening.
Glenelg now advances to the regional final, set for Tuesday, Nov. 8. The Gladiators will play the winner of Friday's contest between Chesapeake and Lansdowne, with only one team advancing to the state semifinal matchup.
"I'm glad the girls have a chance to move on" and play in the regional title game, said Glenelg coach Dean Sheridan. Last season, the team lost to Middletown, 2-1, in the state championship game.
The Gladiators' determination to advance in the playoffs clearly showed on the field in the first half. They used their speed and power to outmuscle visiting Marriotts Ridge, push the ball forward and get behind the Mustangs' defense to apply offensive pressure from the opening kickoff.
It took only two minutes for Glenelg's intense pressure to pay off. Amanda Lyons ran onto a long through ball on the right side and scored from about 20 yards out.
About 15 minutes later, Ashley Wilkenson charged down the midfield and pulled out keeper Jenna Bergquist. Wilkenson took a step to her left and around the keeper and found the open net.
Late in the first half, Christina Kaminsky scored on a penalty kick after Casey Vantucci was fouled in the box.
That call, and another in the second half that negated a Marriotts Ridge goal, was "frustrating," said coach Robin Grey who noted that a "game of this caliber" should have had three officials instead of two.
"We had some trouble in the midfield transitioning the ball," Grey added, about her team's first-half play. Nevertheless, the Mustangs' defense was strong behind the leadership of Maria Hochuli.
When the scoreboard lights came back on two minutes into the second half, Marriotts Ridge was back in the game. About nine minutes into the period, it looked like the Mustangs got a goal following a Hochuli free kick. That goal was disallowed, but a minute later Zoe Stukenberg got one that did count.
"We couldn't recover fast enough (on a clear) and they got us when we couldn't get back. My mark (Alexandra McKay) crossed it over when we were trying to get back," Glenelg defender Megan Pawtowski said.
Midway through the half, Morgan Crable scored on a penalty kick to cut the margin to 3-2.
That's when Sheridan started pacing the sidelines. Later, in the post-game huddle, he took his hat off and said, "Ladies, don't you think I've lost enough hair? Why are you doing this to me?"
He wasn't the only one pacing. Brooke Carey has been the starting goalkeeper for Glenelg every game for the last four years — until Glenelg's first playoff game, a 2-0 win over Long Reach. In the last regular season game, she suffered a concussion in a 2-0 win over Archbishop Spalding. Though her doctor has cleared her to play, she hasn't sat out the county's mandatory five-school-day-period after the clearance.
"I was pacing the sidelines the whole time," she said about the Marriotts Ridge game. "But I trained Kelly Geist and she did a nice job. I'm proud of her."
"She stepped up to the occasion," said Geist's teammate, Casey Vantucci. "For someone who has not had a lot of playing time, she was confident and did everything she was supposed to do."
Geist, who got the shutout win over Long Reach in her varsity debut, had five big saves. Her counterpart, Bergquist, also had five saves.
Glenelg packed in its defense in the last few minutes to ward off Marriotts Ridge's pressure.
"We packed it in a little bit because wanted to maintain our lead," Vantucci said. "We knew it was more important to hold them off and win the game as opposed to taking chances."
"Only in the last six minutes did I go out of my base," said Sheridan. "It wasn't so much that we packed it in as they were applying good pressure. The story of the second half is that they (Marriotts Ridge) worked hard and won the first 20 minutes. But I think they expended themselves and in the last 20 minutes it evened out."
"I thought we were going to pull it off (and get the tying goal), I really did," said Grey. "We had the momentum. I'm at a loss of words."
But, she added. "All season long these girls have given me everything I've asked for. Tonight they gave me 10-fold of everything I asked them."
Yellowjackets move to title game
In another county rivalry, Chapelgate beat Glenelg Country School, 2-0, to advance to the championship game in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland.
Chapelgate, the defending C Conference champion, will play Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday at Friends School in Baltimore. Mt. Carmel beat Park, 1-0.
Chapelgate, which had beaten Glenelg Country, 3-0, earlier in the season, got a first-half goal from freshman Jordan Williams, who scored on a rebound shot. Kristin Thomas scored late in the first half, hitting a 20-yard shot
"Our defense played amazing," said coach Christen Gjeldum. She praised the play of Christina Vanwingerden, Amarachi Uzosike and Sydney Ackman for the shutout.
Andelyn Smith and Casey Bigelow split time in the goal and both had key saves, she added.
"It was a good, fairly evenly matched game. My girls played the best ball today than they had all season with great, and effective, ball movement," said Glenelg Country coach Christy Mink. "We did have many more opportunities to score than we did when we faced them earlier in the season, but we just couldn't capitalize and finish successfully. I definitely felt that we were in the game and shut them out during the second half."
Class 3A playoffs
Susie Halper scored on an assist from Kelly Richards to give Mt. Hebron a 1-0 win over Atholton in the East Region.
Mt. Hebron now advances to the regional championship. The Vikings will play the winner of Friday's contest between Reservoir and No. 2 seed Stephen Decatur.