Sixteen seconds shy of the game rolling into triple OT – in which it would’ve been decided on corners – No. 9 Freeport vs. No. 8 Gray-New Gloucester crashed to its conclusion on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 17, when Patriots Captain Jenny Holmquist beat Falcons keeper Morgan Karnes in sudden death.

The goal earned a 3-2, come-from-behind victory for G-NG in the prelim matchup – as well as a trip to No. 1 York on Tuesday for a quarterfinals bout.

“Freeport’s a good team,” said G-NG head coach Christa Roddy. “We saw them earlier in the season and we had to work for it then, and we knew we were going to have to work for it today.”

Freeport jumped on top early, Alexa Koenig scoring four minutes in, and then again 12 minutes in, to give her team a 2-0 advantage.

“This is their first time in playoff game,” said Roddy of her girls. “They were shaken, they were too excited. So we needed to resettle.”

“We’ve been wanting this rematch,” said Freeport head coach Marcia Wood when asked what allowed her girls to take the quick lead. “We spoke yesterday and today about (how) not many teams get to have a rematch of a game they didn’t play very well in the first time, and take advantage of that. You get a redo.”

G-NG trumped Freeport 4-3 when they met during the regular season, back on Sept. 8.

The Falcons held the Patriots at bay for the next 17 minutes. Finally, though, G-NG got on the board: Cara Waltz made a crowd-teasing dash up the left side of the field, carrying the ball all the way. She beat one defender as she closed in on Karnes, then another, before shuttling the ball on net. Her shot deflected out right, where Alie Martell picked up the rebound and knocked it home. 2-1.

“We got ourselves in a tough spot at first,” Roddy said. “But once we could refocus…I tell them all the time, ‘Shake it off, take a deep breath, calm your heart rate.’ Every time we get back on that field, we’re starting over. You can’t control what’s happened, you can only control what comes next.’”

Wood praised the Patriots’ fire in coming back. “Kudos to them for playing hard,” she said. “Last team we were here, it was us score, they score, us score, they score, so we knew they were going to come back and fight.”

Two minutes into the second half, Waltz evened the tally, shoveling the ball past Karnes out of a scramble at her feet. From there, though, the opponents went stalemate once more.

The action eventually devolved into OT No. 1. Freeport applied immense pressure during that stretch, nearly converting on multiple occasions, but never quite managing.

Wood acknowledged her girls generated plenty of chances. “[It wasn’t] for lack of opportunities,” she said. “We were up there, we were pushing.”

“[We weren’t] taking it wide,” Roddy said of her girls’ struggle to clear during the first OT. “[We kept] trying to go up the center, back where the ball came from, instead of making some moves, making some dodges.”

The teams traded opportunities in OT 2, but both defenses, and both keepers, proved strong. With 16 seconds to play, though, Waltz again blitzed up the left side of the field. This time, it was Holmquist who ultimately capitalized on the attack, after the ball pingponged out front of Karnes for a few tense seconds. 3-2 the final.

Freeport’s season came to a close with the result. The Falcons retired till 2016 at 6-9.

The W bumped the Patriots to 8-7 on the year; 2015 was the first time the team reached the postseason in – well, possibly forever. G-NG Athletic Director Aaron Watson reported being unable to dig up any record of his squad having advanced to the playoffs. Certainly it hasn’t happened in recent memory.

Freeporter Chloe Davidson chases after a ball, getting a step on a Gray-New Gloucester opponent.Gray-New Gloucester’s Skye Conley reaches for a ball; Freeport’s Bailey Karnes tries to hold her up.Freeporters Lexi Peacock (21) and Alex Koenig converge on Patriot Amanda Thayer, who manages to get the ball away.Gray-New Gloucester’s Cara Waltz, surrounded by Freeport defenders, watches as her shot skitters into the Falcons’ cage.Patriot Jenny Holmquist – who scored the game’s winning goal – belts a ball toward the Freeport goal as Falcon Lexi Peacock pounces.The Patriots celebrate – and a lone Falcon laments – immediately following Jenny Holmquist’s game-winning goal vs. Freeport on Saturday.

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