It took nearly 100 minutes to determine a winner, and it ended in a heart-breaking defeat for Kinston High.
Edenton Holmes led the Vikings in pretty much every significant offensive category: shots, corner kicks, time spent on their opponent’s side of the field. In the end, it proved too much, as the Aces ended Kinston’s historic season with a 3-2 win in overtime Wednesday in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.
Kinston (7-10-2) jumped out to an early lead when junior Abby Sargeant found senior Becky Irvin near midfield just two minutes into the game. Irvin sliced through the Aces’ defense and found the back of the net for her eighth goal of the season.
“We always want to test a team in the first five minutes, to see if we can go down the middle of the field,” Romig said. “That became a point of emphasis for us, and that’s what led to our second goal.”
Kinston, an Eastern Plains 2A Conference co-champion and the No. 2 seed out of the league by virtue of a draw, spent the remainder of the first half trying frantically to protect that lead as Holmes (8-9) pounded away at the goal.
The Aces spent almost the entire half on Kinston’s end of the field and out-shot the Vikings 20-3 in the half. Freshman goal keeper Vendela Safford was nearly up to the task, stopping nine shots in the half until senior midfielder Molly High drilled a shot from the middle of the box to knot the score at 1-1 with about eight minutes to play until halftime.
The Vikings were able to assert themselves more in the second half and reclaimed the lead in the 56th minute when junior Hannah Vermillion played a ball long down the middle to sophomore speedster Shannon Mayo, who ran away from the Aces’ defense on a perfectly timed breakaway. Her go-ahead goal was the sophomore forward’s 11th of the season.
Though Holmes had several opportunities to tie the game, it looked like Kinston would hold on for its first playoff victory since 1997.
Aces junior Ellie Wichard had other plans.
With 2 minutes left in regulation, she took advantage of a Kinston miscue and broke free for a one-on-one opportunity against Safford, who stopped her on a similar attempt in the first half. This time Wichard wasn’t denied as her equalizing goal sent the game into a pair of 10-minute overtime periods.
The teams played 19 minutes of scoreless soccer before Wichard got another breakaway in the final minute of play, notching her second goal of the evening in what proved to be the decisive score.
“The equalizer was off a mistake,” Romig said. “The go-ahead goal was off a mistake. The rule of thumb in the state playoffs is that you can’t make mistakes, and our two mistakes ended up finding the back of the net. Other than that, I thought we played flawless soccer.”
The Vikings were hosting a playoff game for just the second time under Romig, just months after the boys team played and won its first home playoff game in school history.
It was also the fourth straight year the Vikings girls have earned a playoff berth and the first time Kinston earned a conference title. The Vikings finished the year in a three-way tie for first place with Wilson Beddingfield and Tarboro after consecutive 1-0 wins against those teams to close out the regular season.
“Tonight was tough to swallow, but the future looks bright,” Romig said. “This was by no means a disappointing season.”
