Habersham Central High School’s varsity girls soccer team closed out its regular season region schedule with a thrilling win, taking down North Forsyth High School in penalty kicks Tuesday in Mt. Airy.
Having already secured the first region championship in the program’s history, HCHS (11-2-2, 11-1 Region 8-AAAAAA) checked another thing off the list: a win in a penalty kick situation.
With regulation ending in a 1-1 tie and the two 10-minute overtime periods resulting in a 2-2 tie, the game headed to penalty kicks.
North Forsyth (6-8-4, 5-7) stepped up first and hit their first shot off the left post. Sophomore Meg LaBarbera buried her opportunity, putting HCHS on top in the best-of-five scenario.
The next two attempts were true for the Lady Raiders from Cumming, while the hosts missed theirs.
On the fourth shot, North Forsyth bounced their shot off the football uprights over the top of the soccer frame. Junior Paisley Cathey stepped to the spot and buried hers, tying the shootout at 2-2.
What would happen next was both a dream and nightmare scene for HCHS.
North Forsyth lined up their fifth attempt, but senior goalkeeper Riley Wilson was up to the task and knocked it away.
The next kick for the home team could seal the win, but it, too, was wide of the target.
With the series tied 2-2 after five attempts each, it went to a 1-and-1 scenario.
Wilson stood her ground yet again as the visitors tried to get the upper hand, knocking away a second straight attempt with the game on the line.
Senior Piper Turner stepped to the spot, stared down the North Forsyth keeper and buried the game winner over a diving, outstretched, gloved right hand. And the celebration was on.
“Super special. Being able to do it at home and just the emotions of winning in that fashion just made it extra sweet,” HCHS Head Coach Jeff LaBarbera said. “You can’t replicate those scenarios in practice, so it was nice to help prepare us for the playoffs in case we have to face something like that in the future. It was good for us.”
LaBarbera credited his senior goalkeeper as the reason the Lady Raiders were able to pull out the victory in such dramatic fashion.
“She’s so good in PK situations,” he said. “I know she’s going to make at least one save and she made two big ones on the fifth and sixth kicker. She gave us the opportunity to win that game. That was unbelievable.”
The head man said he gets to see Wilson train for those tough situations, so he wasn’t surprised she was up for the moment.
“She stayed focused and determined. Like I said, she’s just so good at those. She’s just special,” LaBarbera said.
On top of needing the resolve to block penalty kicks and make their own, many of the Lady Raiders returned from a 10-day trip to Italy, where they trained and played games, on Sunday with school returning from Spring Break on Monday.
To say they were exhausted is an understatement.
“They definitely persevered tonight. It was tough,” LaBarbera said. “A lot of them are sick, not feeling well. We’re all tired. We dug deep tonight. We were in a dogfight the whole game. We never let down and never gave up. We pushed through it and I’m super proud of the girls for that.”
Now, before next week’s state playoffs kick off, the attention turns to senior night Friday after hoisting the Region 8-6A championship trophy for the first time Tuesday in front of the home crowd exactly two weeks after winning the title.
“We’re definitely going into senior night in a celebratory mood. That’s where our focus is,” LaBarbera said. “We just take it one game at a time, so we’re not even thinking about next week right now. We’re just going to get this week behind us and get the jet lag sorted out. Then, we’ll focus on next week, next week.”
It took over 60 minutes of game time for either squad to score, as they emerged from halftime tied nil-nil.
Cathey put the Lady Raiders on top with 19:57 left to play in the contest.
Just over nine minutes later, North Forsyth was given a gift as they lined up for a corner kick. The delivery into the box was perfect and sophomore HCHS defender Eden Turner sought to knock the ball away from goal. Instead, the ball careened off her leg, past senior keeper Riley Wilson and into the back of the net, tying the game at 1-apiece.
North Forsyth had a lot riding on the outcome of the match. If the Lady Raiders from Cumming won, they’d be in the final spot as a Region 8 representative in the state playoffs. Lose, and their season comes to an end on Friday against Creekview at home.
The two headed to the two 10-minute overtime periods and, once again, it looked like HCHS would seal it before getting to penalty kicks as Cathey assisted junior Abigail Hotard to go up 2-1 on the scoreboard less than halfway into the first period.
The lead would last just over seven minutes as North Forsyth scored with 8:24 left on the clock in the second overtime to tie it up and send the game into PKs.
HCHS, which was ranked No. 7 in all of Class 6A in the state by MaxPreps ahead of the win, will kick off against East Hall at 6 p.m. Friday at Raider Stadium.
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