By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington D.C. Metropolitan AreaVideo Galleries:1st Half 2nd Half OvertimesIn a match between one of the top teams in the Northern Region, W.T. Woodson, and one the best in the nation, Robinson, this season-opener was worth the price of admission.
Especially if you got there before the fifth minute.
The Cavaliers and defending state champion Rams rode early fireworks and late dramatics to a 2-2 draw on the first night of the spring season at Woodson on Wednesday.
"That's a very, very good team down there," first-year Woodson coach
Warren Williams said of Robinson. "And our girls played hard. I'm getting used to them. They're getting used to me.
"Our effort out there tonight was phenomenal. The rest will take care of itself, but effort I can't coach. They have to have it in them."
Three minutes in, that effort paid dividends.
A long ball rode the wind over the Robinson back four and to the foot of Woodson senior
Lindsey Ottavio. With a defender trailing, Ottavio slipped a 20-yard shot inside the far post for an early, 1-0 lead.
But less than a minute later, the Rams equalized when captain
LeighAnne Baxter's shot was saved, but not cradled, and junior
Stephanie Johnson blasted in the open-net rebound.
The quick strikes set the tone for what appeared to be a developing shootout.
"It was so intense right away," Robinson junior
Jensen Smith said. "Both teams were playing at the highest level. Woodson wanted to come out and beat us and we wanted to beat them, show them that we were improved and that we were the defending state champions."
Added Woodson sophomore
Kaitlin Brooks: "It gets you psyched. You get all your energy and you just want to keep playing."
And keep playing they did -- for 76 minutes, with no goals.
The Rams and Cavaliers each had scoring chances, but regulation ended with the score knotted at 1.
It was not until the two five-minute, silver-goal extra periods that the scoreboard changed again.
Robinson struck first in the 83rd minute, when Smith split two defenders just outside the Woodson 18-yard box and hit a lined shot passed the Cavaliers' keeper. Smith's goal gave the Rams a 2-1 advantage as the team's switched ends for the second half of overtime.
Williams, the
Washington Post All-Met Coach of the Year last year at Centreville, gave a message to his girls that was both simple and direct.
It was so simple, in fact, he needed Brooks' help remembering it.
"What did I tell you guys, to score?" he asked her. "I told them to score, to put it in the back of the net."
Four minutes after Robinson's go-ahead, Williams turned to Brooks for help again, this time to cash in on his directive.
From a Woodson corner kick, a Cavalier shot on a goal was blocked by a defender. It ricocheted towards the top of the penalty area, where Brooks hammered it high into the goal to tie the game for good.
Still, a draw on the road is an acceptable result for most teams in the region. But Robinson is not most teams.
The Rams returned nine starters from last year's state championship team, which went 21-1-0, and entered the season ranked No. 3 in the nation by ESPNRise.
"I'm disappointed," Smith said. "We're the defending state champions. We were ranked third in the nation and that's going to go away.
"We just have to pick it up for the season."
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.comRobinson 1 0 1 0 -- 2
Woodson 1 0 0 1 -- 2Goals: WT -- Ottavio (3)
RB -- Johnson (4)
RB -- Smith (83)
WT -- Brooks (87)