LEWISTON — Edward Little freshman forward Gabby Gerry’s mindset was simple when a through ball from midfield came her way.
Get the ball and score.
With the clock winding down in overtime, junior midfielder Ava Braunscheidel sent the ball towards the Lewiston 18-yard box, and Gerry sped past a defender to set up a 1-on-1 battle with Blue Devils goalkeeper Sadie Morgan. Morgan came out to challenge, but Gerry shot the ball under Morgan’s reaching arms to score with two second remaining and give the Red Eddies a 1-0 win over their rivals.
“It feels amazing, exhilarating. I am happy,” Gerry said.
The game-winning play developed with 11 seconds left on the clock, but neither Gerry nor Braunscheidel realized how close the final buzzer was.
Braunscheidel, however, did know that it was “go time.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing,” Braunscheidel said. “I had confidence in Gabby and I trusted her. I knew I could make the (pass) from (midfield) and I sent into her with full confidence, and she shut the door.”
Edward Little coach Miles Bisher said Red Eddies have a mentality of not stopping until they hear a whistle.
“They have a never-say-die attitude; even if we are down more than one (goal), they are still going for it. They play hard all night,” Bisher said. “We were knocking on the doorstep all night long, and it was just a matter of time. We kept the faith that what we were doing was going to work.”
Blue Devils coach Jeff Akerley said that he told his players after the game that, despite the loss, they have no reason to hang their heads.
“I know at this point, for our season, I know we were hoping to have a better record, a better outcome in some of our games, but I couldn’t be more of my girls,” Akerley said. “They played well and they played EL tough. In my mind, it might be the best game my girls have played all season.”
The Blue Devils (0-5) were coming off another one-goal loss, 2-1, to Brewer on Wednesday.
After a scoreless first half Saturday, the Red Eddies made a halftime change that set the tempo for the rest of the match.
“I made a little switch at halftime, I put more speed on the wings,” Bisher said. “(I) really told the girls to play the outside, that will get us the opportunities.
Playing to the outside, Bisher said, would create more opportunities in the middle of the field, where the game-winning goal was set up.
Akerley said he noticed that Edward Little had more jump coming out of the halftime break.
The first 30 minutes of the first half saw little offense by either club, but things opened up in the last 10 minutes. The Red Eddies had two corner kicks in the final minutes, but couldn’t get a solid shot on Morgan (five saves).
Lewiston’s Charlotte Cloutier fired a free kick from about 40 yards away that was on goal, but Red Eddies goalie Hailee Brown (nine saves) came out to make the save.
In the final minute of the opening half, there was a mad scramble in Lewiston’s 18-yard box, but the Blue Devils cleared the ball out of danger.
“It was back-and-forth, I thought,” Akerley said. “The energy from both teams, it was really fun to watch. As a coach, as much as you want to win, it’s really nice to see two teams battle back-and-forth and not give up, and be gritty. It was a fun game to watch.”
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