On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School women’s varsity soccer team faced Vero Beach High School in a Regional Playoff Final match. Being that the final game occurred at the Eagles’ home stadium for the playoffs, they looked to take advantage of this opportunity and advance to state-level playoffs by defeating the Fighting Indians.
After their win in penalties against the Boca Raton Bobcats, the Eagles stepped onto the field four days later with the same focus and hoped to contain the successful Vero Beach team.
As the match kicked off at 7 p.m., both teams struggled to consistently attack in the opening minutes. From the start, the focus of the game was on defense and not allowing the opponent any chances to score.
Near the end of the first half, the Eagles picked up momentum and began playing in the Indians half of the field. However, with a few shots were taken from long distances resulting in many missed chances to score points, the Eagles could not break through the Fighting Indian’s defense. The first half ended with neither team having a real advantage, with a halftime score of 0-0.
At the start of the second half, the Indians and the Eagles took turns going into the attack and taking shots on goal.
When Vero Beach pushed into the Eagles half, they were met by the strong challenges of defenders like Skylar Lund (19) and Lizzie Sheehy (8), who sent each of the Indian’s attacks away.
“We covered each other, we worked together as a team and we really dug deep to stay strong these past two games,” Sheehy said.
This mentality helped the Eagles keep many teams from scoring this season, and it was on display Tuesday night. Several times a clearance or tackle by an Eagles defender saved the team from the pressure of the Indians’ forwards.
In the end, the game was decided by the defenders from start to finish. With both sides unable to make a true advance, normal time ran out, and the game stood at 0-0.
“It’s just communicating and being there for each other is all we can do after these last couple games that went to extra time,” Lund said.
The extra time period that followed was more of the same. Tired legs on both sides of the field were evident, as the runs and passes made were far less frequent; the game was dragging towards a penalty shootout.
“They were really big and physical, but we were still able to play our game. We had to pull through and envision ourselves winning another championship to stay in the game,” defender Calista McCausland (6) said.
As extra-time ended and the game went to penalties, the Eagles looked for a repeat of what occurred in their game against Boca Raton in which the team scored nearly all of their penalties.
After goalkeeper Carly Brodsky (0) made multiple saves on shots from Vero Beach, and the Eagles made each of their first three penalties, midfielder Chloe Rogers (4) stepped up for a penalty kick with a chance to win the game.
Rogers sent the shot into the back corner of the net and confirmed victory for the Eagles. With this win, they will advance to state-level playoffs and celebrate another regional championship.
