by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
Sometimes opportunity beats down your door, but you’re not home.
That’s what happened in the second half of Mills Godwin’s 2-1 loss to Battlefield in the state Group AAA girls soccer quarterfinals on a blistering hot Wednesday afternoon.
Godwin, the Central Region champion, had a chance to take the momentum of a 1-1 contest, but missed a few golden scoring options in front of Battlefield’s goal.
“We certainly had some good opportunities in the first half,” Mills Godwin coach Rob White said. “Our goal was to knock a couple in early [in the second half]. I think Battlefield did a nice job up top in the second half. The girls were certainly more threatening and looking to turn on the ball.”
It was Alyson Shaughnessy‘s corner, placed beautifully in front that bounced around before it found the head of Tessa Klumpp.
The freshman, one of seven on Battlefield’s team, got just enough brain power on it before Godwin’s sensational keeper Lindsey Rowe (George Washington signee) could secure the leather about 20 minutes into the second half.
“Godwin came out, they were taking it to us the first 20 minutes,” Bobcats coach Kevin Hilton said. “Our girls looked almost lethargic out there.”
The Eagles dominated possession in the first half, challenging Battlefield keeper Kristen Norkus and her defense on a regular basis.
There was nothing Norkus could do in the 19th minute. Annemarie Cole lofted a beauty of a corner that Anne Lumpkin headed in for Godwin’s 1-0 advantage.
It took the Bobcats (20-1) a while, over 15 minutes to be exact, before equaling the score.
High-scoring sophomore Sahar Aflaki (32 goals on the season) got a breakaway, one-on-one with Godwin’s best defender in Andrea Keller.
Aflaki put on a nice stutter move to get a slither of space and beat Rowe to tie the contest.
“It motivated the team,” Aflaki said of her nifty score. “She had me, I have to admit that. She had the speed up top … so I had to play back to the outside wide and make my run so I can get the ball back in and score.”
Said Hilton: “That was a big spark, absolutely. We knew we had the ability to counter. They only had two players back and they had the keeper taking the kick from midfield, so we were just looking for the quick counter there.”
Godwin gave a valiant effort to score late, having a few more chances go awry and a few more breaks go to Battlefield, the Northwest Region runner-up, who will face Frank Cox Friday in the state semis at Westfield High.
That’s just how soccer works sometimes, but it is usually in the favor of the Eagles (17-2), who took only their second loss of the season, first to a public-school team. The other loss was to private power Collegiate.
“We’ve got eight seniors that played their booties off all season,” White said. “They’ll be hard to replace them, so I want to thank them.”
Battlefield 1 1 – 2
Mills Godwin 1 0 – 1
B: Aflaki, Klumpp
MG: Lumpkin
Records: Battlefield (20-1); Mills Godwin (17-2)
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