The turning point came a week ago, but tonight Reservoir collected the dividends and posted its first significant win in a season that has been a struggle to this point.
The Gators beat visiting Atholton, 3-1, to win its second straight game and boost its county record to 3-5. The defending state Class 3A champs have worked through injuries and huge graduation losses but now have a goal in front of them. The turnaround started with a strong performance — but yet a loss — against unbeaten River Hill last week.
"We talked after the River Hill game and set our goals," said keeper Megan Fowler who had eight saves. "We need to win 12 games (to repeat as state champs). This is our second win; we have 10 more to go."
The Gators played River Hill tough but lost, 1-0. "We gained a lot of confidence in that game. It was a great loss to have," said Reservoir coach Josh Sullivan.
That confidence led to a win over Oakland Mills and tonight's win over Atholton. "This is probably the biggest turning point in our season," said Keri Rager, a striker who converted to a sweeper this fall to fill one void. Rager and defender Delaney Reiff played key roles in limiting Atholton's scoring.
"We played with a lot of heart in that (River Hill) game and today we played with a lot more heart," said Gator Amanda Jackson, who scored the first goal of the game. "This is a big turning point because we finally have the confidence that we can beat the good teams in the county."
"We showed we can play better than we have," added Taylor Sullivan, whose goal late in the second half iced the win. "We were really pumped up and wanted to win."
In other Tuesday evening games, River Hill, Centennial and Glenelg posted wins, and Mt. Hebron and Marriotts Ridge played to a 1-1 tie through two overtime periods. Wilde Lake also won as senior Gillian Sawyer hit a milestone with her 50th high-school goal.
"This game was crucial," said Josh Sullivan about Reservoir's win over Atholton. "We've talked about having a playoff mentality, about leaving it all on the field."
Fifteen minutes into the game, Reservoir's Michelle Viegas sent a free kick to the left side of Atholton's wall defense and Jackson touched it to the upper left net to give the Gators the lead.
"Everyone was tight on their mark but it bounced off one of our players, I think," said Atholton sweeper Emily Pattillo, who had an outstanding game. "It was a lucky shot and there wasn't anything we could do about it."
Atholton, now 3-3-2 in the county, tied the game on a penalty kick with less than eight minutes left in the half. Katrina Macadoff missed her first attempt, but the officials decided the ball was placed in the wrong spot, and gave her a Mulligan — a do-over.
"I refocused and took my time" on the second attempt, said Macadoff.
Reservoir's winning goal came early in the second half when Jackson dribbled into the right corner of the box and crossed to Viegas.
"It was good to see her break out," said coach Sullivan, about Viegas' goal and assist.
Taylor Sullivan's goal, off a cross from Reiff, came with seven minutes left in the game, and was particularly pleasing to coach Sullivan.
"Up top — that's been the Achilles' heel for us this season. We need someone else up top to play off Amanda (Jackson), and Taylor filled the void tonight. She did exactly what we asked her to do, to put a lot of pressure on their defense," he said.
Atholton keeper Amy Weinberg, who had nine saves, said the loss was "very disappointing. We should have won this game."
"Coming off a good game with River Hill, I'd be very pumped up" in their position, too, she said. "I expected them to come out very strong. We should have prepared more for the game. We weren't as focused as we should have been."
Yet, just like a loss motivated the Gators, Atholton will be motivated, too, said Macadoff. "We take our losses seriously."
The Raiders have two big contests coming up in the next week — Glenelg and River Hill. "We need to be strong," said Pattillo. "I honestly don't think there is a team in this county that has better skills than we do. We just let down and make simple mistakes."
50th goal for Sawyer
Gillian Sawyer scored the lone goal of the game — and the 50th of her high-school career — to give Wilde Lake its second win of the season, 1-0 victory over Long Reach. Sawyer's game-winner came in the first half.
Sawyer scored 20 minutes into the game, finishing a "great" through ball by Maria Pascale, said coach Robin Sawyer. "Our defense was able to hold on for the win.
"Notably, Gillian's goal was her 50th scored at Wilde Lake since she began playing as a freshman," added the coach.
"Our players were frustrated that none of their second-half chances resulted in an equalizer," said Long Reach coach Erik Sandersen.
Wilde Lake is now 2-5-2, both in the county and overall. Long Reach is 1-6-1 in the county and overall.
Undecided and deadlocked
Marriotts Ridge and Mt. Hebron both scored in the first half but neither found the net again and ended with a 1-1 tie after two overtimes and 100 minutes on the field. At least one team learned a lesson in the deadlock.
Marriotts Ridge's Nicole Grote put the first goal on the scoreboard and Kelsi Folch got the tying goal for Mt. Hebron.
Grote took at shot about 10 yards outside the box and placed it upper corner seven minutes into the game, said Marriotts Ridge coach Robin Grey.
But when Marriotts Ridge's "Maria Hochuli got tangled up with Susie Halper in the box at 5:20," Mt. Hebron got a penalty kick. Folch "placed it beautifully," said Grey.
Grey said her team outshot the Vikings "but struggled to capitalize on our opportunities within the final third. We had a number of throws, crosses and directs. Hebron was quick, aggressive and stronger with these 50/50 balls. As a result, we couldn't get the quality shot off we needed to put us back ahead.
"It was a good lesson to learn with playoffs a week and a half away," she added.
Tahlia Tavai had four saves for Mt. Hebron.
Marriotts Ridge is now 5-1-2 in the county and 5-2-2 overall. Mt. Hebron is 5-2-1 in the county and 6-4-1 overall.
Ninth win for Eagles
Centennial likes to spread around the scoring.
Four Eagles scored in a 4-0 shutout win over Hammond today.
Nicki Mize, Darby Sinunu, Sammie Albornoz and Anna Mitchell all found the net in the win. Mize, Mitchell and Caroline Baker had assists as the Eagles outshot Hammond, with 13 shots on goal. Hammond had three.
It was the ninth win for the Eagles, now 9-0-2 overall and 6-0-2 in the county. Hammond is 0-8.
Centennial scored three goals in less than seven minutes in the later part of the first half to take a halftime lead. Mize assisted the first goal. Her free kick was deflected in by Sinunu. Mize followed with a blistering shot off a pass Mitchell. Albornoz got to a loose ball and shot it just out of the goalie's reach to give the Eagles a comfortable lead
Centennial finished off the scoring 10 minutes into the second half when Caroline Baker sent a ball into the top of the box and Mitchell headed it back to the far post.
Hammond was able to put on some early pressure on Centennial in the first moments of the game but goalie Katie Donegan made two outstanding saves, said Centennial coach Steve Baxter. Hammond took advantage of a "poor clear" by Centennial, and Donegan came sliding out to make the first save. "She made a second quick reaction save from her knees," said Baxter. The final shot was cleared by a Centennial defender covering the line.
Donegan has "been simply outstanding in goal this season," said Baxter. "Through 11 games, we have given up just three goals and Katie deserves a lot of credit for that record. She continues to come up with some big saves and tonight was no different."
Nine different players have scored goals in the last four games for the Eagles.
Julia Reed had 16 saves for Hammond, said coach Mike Koplow.
Other games
Glenelg shut out Oakland Mills, 3-0, on goals by Becca Pontius, Christina Kaminsky and Ashley Wilkenson. Danielle Burris had one assist in the win for the Gladiators, now 5-2-1 in the county.
Oakland Mills is 2-6 in the county.
River Hill, now 8-0 in the county, gave up a goal to Howard but won, 3-1.
Liz Bamber (assisted by Michaela Hennessy), Katie Arensmeier (Haily Emrick) and Sheridan Street (Alex Hamer) scored for River Hill.
Taylor Gant scored for Howard (2-4-2).