The Alexander girl's soccer team made their way back into the semi-finals for the 6th time in the last 7 years last night with a 2-1 win in overtime over Caledonia-Mumford Friday night in Caledonia. Alexander entered the game as the 5th seed and Cal-Mum was the 4 seed.
Alexander ran out to a 1-0 lead early in the game as sophomore forward Julia Pettys scored a goal off a cross from freshman midfielder Abby Shilvock to put Alexander up 1-0 with the strong wind at their back in the 1st half. The wind was blowing from one end of the field to the other and gusting an estimated 20 miles and hour throughout the game. The score remained 1-0 at halftime.
In the 2nd half Alexander would have to go into the wind and preserve the lead. Caledonia wasted little time knotting the game at 1 as they scored on one of their many corner kicks in the 2nd half 9 minutes into the half. Alexander struggled to clear their defensive 3rd the entire half and worked incredibly hard to keep the score at 1-1. Junior goalkeeper Hannah Wilson made a fantastic leaping save late in the 2nd half to keep the score 1-1 and send the game to over time.
Alexander again had the wind at their backs in the first half of overtime. Alexander went right to work and put pressure immediately on the Cal-Mum net. 3 minutes into the 1st half of overtime senior forward Anna Dominick received a ball 40 yards from goal and went to work dribbling past the entire Cal-Mum defense and getting inside the 18 yard box. Passing up an average shot she drew the sweeper in and cut the ball to her left around the sweeper and beat a diving keeper in the lower right hand corner to make the score 2-1. Alexander had a couple chances to make it 3-1 but didn't find the net.
In the 2nd OT Alexander would again have to protect a 1 goal lead going into the wind. This time they made that lead stand up as the defense and midfield worked incredibly hard and limited Cal-Mums chances. Alexander's forwards held possession of the ball and helped kill the final minutes off the clock.
With the win Alexander moved to 14-3-1 on the season and has a matchup Tuesday night against 8th seeded Nazareth who upset the top seeded Bloomfield Bombers in the quarter finals. Alexander and Bloomfield met in the quarterfinals 2 years ago with Alexander winning that game. Very few players are left from that team but it is sure to be a great battle.
