The Patriots’ playoff run came to an end following a devastating loss to Walter Johnson in the regional finals. In the sectional finals, the girls beat Northwest 3-2 in double overtime after a miraculous comeback.
The girls quickly found themselves with a 2-0 deficit early in the game, but never gave up in their chances to advance to the next round. In the second half, senior Michelle Su got the Patriots on the board after she headed the ball into the back of the net off a cross from junior Jillian Gonzales off a free kick.
Gonzales played another great ball off a corner kick that Cohen headed into the back of the net, tying the game up at two goals a piece. The first overtime passed without a goal, resulting in a second overtime.
In the second overtime, Gonzales netted a goal of her own, giving the Patriots the 3-2 victory over the Jaguars, sending them to the regional finals to face Walter Johnson.
“It was awesome beating Northwest because we were the underdogs and we were able to come back from past years when we lost to Northwest,” senior Isabella Oliva said.
The girls fell short to the number two ranked team in the state, Walter Johnson, on Nov. 1, 5-4 in a hard-fought game between two extremely competitive teams.
The talented Walter Johnson squad edged the Patriots despite a controversial call with 50 seconds remaining in the game. Junior Caroline Wang contributed to the girls’ offensive surge with a goal off a defensive mistake by the Wildcats. Minutes later, Wang had another scoring opportunity on a breakaway, but the Wildcat’s goalie slide tackled Wang and received a red card and was ejected from the game. Although the Patriots were playing with one more player than the other team, the girls could not get a lead over WJ, but were less than a minute away from forcing overtime.
Disaster struck when a controversial penalty call in the box gave the state’s leading scorer, senior Wisconsin commit Cammie Murtha, a chance to send the girls to the Maryland 4A South championship. Murtha whistled the ball passed the goalkeeper, and the Patriots could not come back with 50 seconds remaining, putting their season to an end.
Walter Johnson will play in the State finals on Nov. 18 against Perry Hall.
The girls had a spectacular season, coming seconds away from the State semifinals, but overall were dominant throughout the season.

Nic Band

Opinion Editor