It took a frantic comeback, but Atholton stayed perfect Monday evening.
Down 2-0 against Oakland Mills with less than 10 minutes left in regulation, Atholton coach Roch DeFrances said he saw his team's chances of a comeback slipping away. However, in thrilling fashion, the Raiders responded with goals by Derek Chan and Matt Romeo to force overtime.
Then Emilio Altimarano provided the deciding tally in a 3-2 Atholton victory with four minutes left in double overtime.
"We had been putting pressure on them all day, we just couldn't break through their defense," DeFrances said. "But our guys acted like the experienced team that they are and kept pushing. They found a way to get us into overtime."
Oakland Mills' defense, led by goalie Hassan Mustafa (12 saves), had frustrated the Raiders by packing it in and limiting quality chances. Despite being on the losing end of possession battle, the Scorpions found themselves leading on the scoreboard down the stretch.
"You can control the ball and control possession, but you just can't break through for quality shots," DeFrances said. "They definitely can frustrate you."
Needing goals late, DeFrances pushed Chan forward from his defensive position. The move worked, as the senior pulled the Raiders within one goal with six minutes left. Then, in stoppage time, Atholton was awarded a penalty kick and Romeo converted.
In the second overtime, Altimarano got the game-winner off a throw-in where he corralled the ball and found the back of the net.
Atholton is now 4-0 in county play, while Oakland Mills suffered its second county loss.
Atholton 3, Oakland Mills 2 2OT
Goals: A - Chan, Romeo, Alimarano; OM - Mazariego, Abdelazim.
Assist: A - Ayereko.
Saves: A - Forbes 5; OM - Mustafa 12.
Half: 0-0.
Reservoir 9, Long Reach 1
The Gators stayed undefeated with a dominating effort against the Lightning. Seven different players scored in a game that Reservoir played its starters for just 30 minutes. Cam Britton and Gibril Sherriff were the offensive leaders with two goals apiece.
"In this county, you have to go one by one and get through every game before you look to the next one," Reservoir coach Paul Linkins said. "We got a lot of guys in and I thought we played a pretty complete game."
Goals: Re - Bonner, Akuffo, Kosmowski, Britton 2, DePinto, Bryant, Sherriff 2; LR - Ping.
Assists: Re - Bonner 3, Rager, Paul Park, Peter Park; LR - Villar.
Saves: Re - Dooley 2, Dearden 5; LR - Slahetka 4, Hatfield 4.
Wilde Lake 3, Mt. Hebron 1
After trailing 1-0 at the half, the Wildecats exploded for three goals in the second half to pull out the victory. Jason Seinfeld scored twice and Matt Flyr had the other goal for Wilde Lake.
The Wildecats were coming off a 1-1 tie with North County over the weekend. Flyr provided the team's only goal in that game, which was a small snapshot of the team's up and down season thus far.
"We've been building and fighting through some adversity to start the year," Wilde Lake coach Matt Pickett said. "The good news is that we seem to be getting better as the season is moving along."
Centennial 2, Howard 0 (Friday)
In its first game this season not decided by one goal, the Eagles scored twice in the second half to knock off Howard Friday afternoon at Rockburn Park. Kenneth Bohr, off a feed from Heston Priestley, broke the scoreless tie two minutes into the second half. Then, with roughly eight minutes left in the game, Andrey Pavlov converted a direct kick just outside the box to seal things.
Goals: C - Bohr, Pavlov.
Assist: C - Priestley.
Saves: C - Bicknell 3; Spalding 7.
Half: 0-0.
River Hill 1, Glenelg 0 OT (Thursday)
Goal: RH - Huber.
Assist: RH - Williams.
Saves: RH - Voyton 6; Haussler 12.
Half: 0-0.
Marriotts Ridge 1, Hammond 0 (Thursday)
Goal: MR - Martinelli.
Assist: MR - Applegate.
Saves: MR - Shepherd 1; Ha - Sandish 7.
Half: 0-0.