Bulldogs win Carolina 1A girls' soccer title, but contest proves costly for both teams

By Allen Eztler
Published in Sports on May 8, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

Tempers flared and frustrations boiled over Wednesday evening as archrivals Rosewood and Princeton battled for the Carolina 1-A Conference girls' soccer championship at Branch Pope Field.

The short-handed teams, which each had two players receive red cards and accept two-game suspensions for the postseason, dueled to a 2-2 draw. The tie gave the Bulldogs the outright regular-season title.

The Bulldogs (13-2-1 overall, 11-0-1 CC) struck in the first minute of the game when Chelsea Hawley buried a goal that Rosewood keeper Patrice Robertson got a hand on, but couldn't keep out of the net. McKenzie Smale got the assist.

Less than 10 minutes later Valasquez tapped in a goal from point-blank range on an assist from Emily Woodward.

Rosewood, which lacked an early focus according to coach Daniel Mitchell, regained its composure and chipped away at the lead. The Eagles (11-3-4, 10-1-1) tried to get the offense going forward using the speed of their strikers Lexi Mercer and Kimberly Scott.

"We know their back line likes to push up," Mercer said. "So our goal was to beat them through the air and run on to the balls, because beating them (with passes) on the ground wasn't going to happen."

Midway through the first half Rosewood capitalized.

Scott, one of the seven seniors honored before the game, timed a run perfectly and beat the back line on a lobbed pass. She took on a defender and took a shot at goal that deflected off the pass. Mercer was in perfect position to bury the rebound.

Mercer added a second goal toward the end of the half using her physicality to beat defenders to the ball for a one-on-one chance with the keeper. Contact between her and the goalie on Mercer's shot caused them both to fall. Mercer was the first one up and put the rebound away for the tie.

Both teams had their chances to tie -- in fact, Princeton hit the crossbar twice later in the game -- but no one could finish a shot. Robertson had 21 saves for the Eagles.

The physical play and game implications caused frustrations to overflow just seconds before regulation play ended. A scrum between the two teams resulted in four ejections.

Princeton heads into the playoffs without its top two goal scorers -- Velasquez and Jessica Brush. Rosewood moves on with Samantha Allen and Maria Santibanez benched for the next two games.

Emotions continued to run high once overtime ended. Each coach talked to their respective team about using the situation as a learning experience.

"I think emotions just got the best of them," Mitchell said. "We haven't had any situations like that before in the year ... We just have to let them know about not letting emotions get the best of them and keep thinking big picture."

"We're a better team than that," Velasquez said. "We have better sportsmanship than we showed and above all that's not how we are, that's not who we are."

The Dogs' scoring duties will fall on Hawley's capable shoulders.

"I just have to look to my captains and play good soccer that's all I can do," she said.