KINGSTON – When Lake-Lehman took 11 straight attempts in the first half, but could not erase Holy Redeemer’s lead, the Black Knights looked to create better shots.
When the Black Knights had two shots bounce off posts and another skim off the top of the crossbar, they kept shooting.
Being forced to continue the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 girls soccer championship game Monday night at Wyoming Seminary without leading scorer Mackenzie Love, who was shaken up on a collision in front of the goal, and Amanda Ayers, who received a red card, simply led to improvisation.
Emily Smith moved from midfield to forward and fellow freshman Chloe Weaver came off the bench to produce the game-winning play 51 seconds into overtime and lift Lake-Lehman to the division championship with a hard-fought, 3-2 victory.
That combination had Lake-Lehman celebrating.
“It was awesome,” Smith said. “The team running over to me was the best thing ever.”
Weaver slipped a pass ahead, giving Smith plenty of room to get off a shot from 12 yards out on the right wing, bringing a quick end to overtime on the first shot of the first sudden-death period.
“It was perfect,” Smith said. “She couldn’t have set it up any better.”
That was an improvement over the first half.
Lake-Lehman coach Kelly Adamshick said her team had to take some responsibility for not setting each other up to make the most of its possession advantage in the first half.
“We played awful the first half,” she said. “Once we settled down and relaxed, our game is more passing and moving.
“ … We had to calm down. We had a lot of nerves. We just kept working and working.”
That work, which produced a 23-12 advantage in shots and a 5-3 lead in corner kicks, eventually paid off.
Kyra Apaliski scored 8:35 into the second half and with 8:59 remaining to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
“Finally, we got one in and got the lead,” Adamshick said
That lead carried until 37 seconds left in regulation when Holy Redeemer freshman Annie Bagnall scored her second goal to force overtime.
The playoff was needed when each team went 15-1 in the division, losing only to each other.
With the division championship at stake, they battled through a game that featured four yellow cards, three injuries on collisions in front of the goal and two red cards.
“It was not the typical girls soccer game,” Adamshick said.
