Falcon girls narrowly miss upset in soccer playoffs

But they wouldn’t — and couldn’t — last on the faces of the West Rowan Falcons. Soon pride set in. Pride at taking the third-best soccer team in the West to the brink. Pride at being out-manned and out-gunned for 80 minutes, yet coming within inches of a potential upset.

“I think we surprised everybody with how long we stuck around,”Falcon senior Kelly Burdeau said following Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to Forestview in the first round of the state playoffs. “I think we gave them a little more than they expected.”

The Falcons, a No. 14 seed in the 3AWest region, faced a Jaguar team with just two losses all season and one of the state’s best players in Whitney Sikes.

Sikes scored her 51st goal of the season to put the Jaguars ahead to stay early in the second half, but it came after a long, spirited battle with West keeper Sara Pieper.

“She was stopping some very tough shots, frustrating me and frustrating my front runners,”Forestview head coach Eric Alsop said of the senior keeper. “She was very impressive.”

Pieper found herself in an unenviable position Tuesday night against the Jaguars’ high-powered attack. The duo of Sikes and KC Correll (30 goals) peppered the West defense early and often, and broke through for a goal in the fifth minute after Pieper made a great save on a close-in shot but couldn’t get Amber Eaker’s rebound.

Sikes and Correll each missed out on great chances in the following minutes thanks to Pieper and one great save from Lauren Bucher standing in the goal mouth.

With Forestview’s offense threatening to take over the game, West quickly went to work.

Junior Lauren Duffy lined up a corner kick in the 12th minute and sent a high, arcing shot on a line to Burdeau’s foot. Without a second’s hesitation, Burdeau ripped a line drive high and hard into the net past a half-dozen Jaguars, who had time only to turn their heads in amazement at the sudden turn of events.

“We’ve been practicing finishing balls all week,”Burdeau said. “Duffy’s ball was perfect. She’s had a lot of assists this year.”

“That was huge,” added West head coach Rebecca Snider. “It was a great finish for a kid who doesn’t usually have many chances to finish that kind of shot.”

The Falcons finished out the half with renewed energy. Pieper and defenders Kristen McNeely and Angela Cruz held Sikes at bay, and West settled for a 1-1 halftime score after a near-miss from Burdeau off another corner kick with three minutes to go.

Forestview served notice less than 30 seconds into the second half that Pieper’s rest period was over. Jaguar Claire Atkins-Davis followed a shot into the box and collided with the West keeper, who momentarily fumbled the ball away. Pieper went down hard and got up slowly, limping back to the net.

“Not too many people run into Claire and get up and keep playing,”Alsop said with a laugh in further praise of Pieper.

His team got the last laugh minutes later when Sikes, bound for the University of Richmond soccer squad next year, beat two defenders down the field and drilled a shot past the helpless Pieper.

“There’s nothing I like more than a fight like that,”Pieper said. “I thought I could’ve gotten the second goal, but stuff happens sometimes.”

Forestview didn’t sneak any more past Pieper, keeping the 200 enthusiastic fans in suspense until the very end.

The Falcons just missed on a trio of good scoring opportunities in the second half, one off a Duffy takeaway and shot that sent keeper Jennifer Martin scrambling for a ball she couldn’t get — but bounced off the bottom of the crossbar with 30 minutes to play.

At the 12-minute mark, senior Kathryn McNeely made a run down the center of the field but beat her defender by a half step before the ball got there for an agonizingly close offsides call.

A minute later, overtime looked certain when McNeely made another run all alone. Her defender and Martin converged at the top of the box just in time to disrupt the shot, and McNeely’s offering with the keeper still out of position was deflected back to Martin.

“I was hoping she wouldn’t catch her,”Snider said. “Kathryn did a smart thing getting the defender on her back, and then the keeper came out. It was just unlucky that she couldn’t finish it.”

It would prove to be the Falcons’ final chance of the night.

“I got a little bit of a tingling feeling that something was going to happen,”Pieper said of McNeely’s last run. “I was praying it would go in, but we’ve got nothing to complain about. We had a great season.”

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NOTES: Kristen McNeely finished out her West athletics career with a wild “flip-throw” — a long, powerful throw-in generated by a somersault — generally reserved for WUSA telecasts. … West finished out the year 15-5-2, while No. 3 Forestview improved to 21-2-1.