ROMEO — Senior captain Elizabeth Jewell scored with 46 seconds remaining in the second overtime, and the unbeaten, No. 5-ranked Rochester Falcons escaped with a 2-1 win over the Romeo Bulldogs in the opening round of the state playoffs.
“I think Leila (Lanier) sent the ball up high, and I just, I wanted to get everything on it. Last minute of the game, I’m fighting the whole entire time. I jump up for it, and then I think I nutmegged the center back, and I just put my foot on it, and it went right past the goalie. It went so fast I can’t even tell you what foot I scored with. It was just crazy,” Jewell said. “To be a senior and this is the first time I’ve gone past the first round in districts. To do it by (getting) the winning goal is the best feeling.”
Romeo had opened the scoring early when Olivia Howes stole the ball from a defender and slotted a shot home just 7:29 into the game.
Photo gallery from the double-OT girls soccer district opener between Romeo and Rochester
The Bulldogs then hunkered down defensively, often keeping nine field players behind the ball and leaving Howes alone up top. And for a while it worked. Rochester had more of the ball, but they could not find any clean chances, particularly in the first half, and Romeo went into halftime still up 1-0.
“We’ve obviously played them once before. It was a close game. We missed a PK (penalty kick) in that game to tie it. We watched the film over and over again, and we knew the adjustments that we had to make, where we had to kind of flatten out our midfield and drop five back through the mid and kind of keep that line strong. We did that. I told the girls it’s rare that you have a full team listen to a game plan to the level that they listened today,” Romeo head coach Trevor Foster said.
But Rochester made some halftime adjustments and started connecting a bit more. The Falcons tied the game with 31:08 left in the second half when Natalie Rayce fired a free kick from 30 yards out that slipped in under the crossbar.
“We just talked about keeping our spacing, and they were good on the counter and dangerous. We sort of had a lot of the ball, but nothing was spectacular, a lot of half chances and we didn’t really test the goalkeeper (in the first half),” Falcons head coach Doug Steinard said. “In the second half we kind of settled in a little bit and got a nice free kick out of Natalie and put some energy back into us and rocked it out.”
Rochester generated the better chances for much of the second half, but neither team was able to find a winner in regulation, though both would come close late with Rochester goalie Alice Max having to punch a free kick just over the bar with 2:30 remaining in the game. On the ensuing breakout following a corner kick, it was Romeo goalkeeper Eva Hill’s turn to make a big play, coming off her line to challenge a breakaway and force the shot just wide.
“We came out with the energy that we needed. We felt we came out with the right plan. The plan worked until there was about 40 seconds left in the game. Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way. Sometimes the other team just makes a play. Rochester made a few plays in important moments, obviously the last play. But I couldn’t be more proud of our team,” Foster said.
With the win, Rochester remains unbeaten at 13-0-4 and moves on to face Rochester Adams in the district semifinal next week.
“I told the girls it wasn’t great today, but all that matters is that at the end of the game you have more goals than the other team,” Steinard said. “We played them (Adams) very early, second league game for us. Obviously, a lot has changed. We’re a different team. They’re a different team, so I’m excited to see what it’s going to be, and it’s a crosstown rivalry game. And you roll the dice out there and anything can happen,” he added.
Romeo finishes the year at 7-7-4.
“When I took over we built from MAC Blue champs to MAC White champs two years in a row. We had the COVID year. Then we finally made our way into the MAC Red, which has been the goal all along. And then last year we made a pit stop as district champs, so it kind of gave us…we knew the level and the energy and the wavelength we had to reach in a game like this. And I really think the girls stepped up to it,” Foster said. “But again, they came out with the intensity we needed to win the game. Again, I’m proud of them.”
