Dice does the trick for Blazers in 2OT

October 26, 2008|By JACK HILL III

WILLIAMSPORT -- Sarah Dice scored on a penalty kick in the third minute of the second overtime period Saturday to lift Clear Spring to a 3-2 win over Williamsport in the first round of the Maryland Class 1A West girls soccer playoffs.

Dice's third goal of the match gave the Blazers (10-5-1) their first 10-win season in the 12-year history of their program -- and a quarterfinal date on the road with second-seeded Northern Garrett on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

"It just went in there," said Dice, who has 24 goals this season. "I didn't panic, I kept my cool. I knew it was the game decider. I just put it away."

"Sarah Dice is our captain and our leading scorer," Clear Spring coach Jeff Semler said. "The girls look to her to score. She is a good all-around player. She deserves to play on the next level. She can play anywhere on the field and she plays hard. I am hoping that some college can pick her up, and I am sure that they will."

Dice had answers for the Wildcats on Saturday.

"First off, we came from behind on every goal," she said. "We stuck together as a team. It gets tough in overtime. We have eight seniors on this team. We didn't want to see our last game. We worked our butts off. I just want to give a pat on the back to my team. Without them, we wouldn't have been able to have done it."

Williamsport (3-11) held a 1-0 halftime lead as Amber Shumaker scored on an assist by Morgan Keplinger in the 14th minute.

Dice tied the score at 1 in the 42nd minute on an assist by Kirstie McMurray, and the Wildcats reclaimed the lead in the 59th minute as Keplinger scored on an assist by Hannah Petro.

Two minutes later, Dice scored on a free kick from the right side to tie the game at 2.

"It's a big win," Semler said. "It was a lot of heart by our girls. The key to the victory was that we didn't give up. We just kept battling and we stayed in the game. I am just really pleased with the girls' performance. It was a team effort."

It was a tough end to a tough season for Williamsport.

"We played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm," Williamsport coach Joe Burger said. "I thought that we outplayed Clear Spring in a lot of aspects of the game today. Having two goals called back during the game hurt our momentum.

"But today was kind of typical for our season. We played well, but we just didn't get the positive results."

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