The win that wasn’t

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LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — It was a 3-2 win for the home team in the final seconds of the match, but then it wasn’t. In a controversial ruling on the field, one of the guys in a striped shirt called it back, and the girls’ varsity soccer game went into a couple of mandated 10-minute periods of overtime tied 2-2.

In the wake of the OT, both the home team Lady Bulldogs and the visiting Lady Wildcats of Livingston Manor were unable to post points on the board, and the game ended in a tie, right back where it left off 20 minutes before.

Doing the math, that’s 100 minutes of hard-fought soccer on Wednesday, September 18. No matter how you crunch the numbers, that’s a lot of high school soccer.

But back to the call that left a lot of folks thinking “we was robbed” and others breathing a sigh of relief, according to “reliable sources,” the ref verbally told Sullivan West’s Grace Boyd that an unfolding play was a direct kick, but didn’t signal it. She took the shot and scored, but then the ref reportedly said it was an indirect, and the goal was cancelled.

The game went into OT, and, in the end, was posted in the record books as a tie… You win some, lose some—sometimes you wind up with a tie.

Asked about the erased goal and the win that wasn’t, Boyd showed an admirable sense of sportsmanship and an ability to roll with a punch when she replied, “It was a direct kick, but he didn’t signal it, so it didn’t count… It felt good, until it wasn’t a goal.”

The first half was all Lady Wildcats: Samantha Severing scored off an assist by Lindsey Parks (28:08). A minute and 20 seconds later, she then stunned Sullivan West with a lightning-quick goal as Severing again teamed up with Parks (29:28) to put Manor up 2-0.

In a case of turn-about is fair play, the final frame of regulation play was all Lady Bulldogs: Grace Boyd scored off an assist by Arieon Frazier (22:28), followed by Frazier drilling a penalty kick (29:16). These goals changed the tempo of the match in favor of the home team, making it a 2-2 contest. 

Then came that goal—that goal that didn’t count—that still ended in a draw.

Stats (again thanks to Bulldogs statistician and math-whiz Kurt Scheibe): shots (SW 25, LM 30), shots on goal (SW 18, LM 19), corner kicks (SW 2, LM 5).

Shirlee Davis and her daughter Samantha Davis serve as co-coaches of Manor’s varsity girls booters.

What are Shirlee Davis’ goals for the season?

“To get to sectionals, and we would like to win the division, so we’ll see,” she replied, adding of the second half of regulation play, “They out hustled us, tried to win every ball… You can get a little too comfortable when you have a lead. Bouncing balls are difficult to defend in front of the net.”

Manor is co-captained by a couple of seniors: returning senior Lindsey Parks and Courtney Rampe.

Kristina Davis, a 16-year old junior anchors the net for the Lady Wildcats. Here’s her take on the unfolding season, as Manor enters its second year with a varsity girls’ soccer program:

“We’re doing the best we can, doing better than we did last year,” said Davis, adding of her goals for the year, “Become section champs this year.”

And of her role as goalie? “Not letting the ball in,” she explained.

Diane Hahn is in her inaugural season at the helm of the Lady Bulldogs soccer squad. “We look like a team right now,” she said before adding her take on the win turned tie. “It’s still a win in our minds.”

Fifteen-year old sophomore Riley Ernst takes to the soccer field as Sullivan West’s goalie. “I think the game was played very well, and I’m proud of how the girls came out and played,” she said.

Of the importance the keeper? “It’s the final line of defense for my team,” said Ernst.

Sullivan West Lady Bulldogs, Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats, soccer

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