Resilient Lourdes girls’ soccer team defeats Viera in OT to reach state-title game
It was over two years ago that the University of Miami recognized how good of a girls’ soccer player Mia Atrio was.
Late Friday afternoon, three months after Atrio signed her letter of intent to play at UM, everybody found out why.
With her team locked in a 2-2 overtime tie with Viera and a berth in the Class 6A state championship game on the line, Atrio delivered in a big way.
After stealing a pass deep in Viera territory, she took it down the line and beat Viera goalkeeper Megan Cook, putting it in the bottom left corner of the net for what turned out to be the game-winning goal as Lourdes pulled off a dramatic 4-2 overtime win in a Class 6A state semifinal at Belen Jesuit.
The win puts the Bobcats (17-2-1) into next week’s Class 6A title game where they will face Venice on Friday, Feb. 28, at 4 p.m. at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand. They will be looking for their second state title, having edged Oviedo 1-0 two years ago.
“I thought I could jump the pass and steal it and I did,” Atrio said. “Now I’m down the right side and I saw a defender coming towards me. I faked a shot and then took it more down the line and at that point was waiting for the keeper to commit. When she did that opened up the bottom left and I nailed it. What a moment.”
The goal came with just 6:17 left in the second 10-minute overtime. Three minutes later, the Bobcats added an insurance goal when Atrio put a corner kick down in front of the net that Mariana Rionda headed back toward the net and Coco Aguilar headed in.
That was all the Lourdes crowd, which was huge and loud, needed to start the celebration.
What was remarkable about the win is that the Bobcats stole victory right from the ashes of defeat. Twice in the previous two rounds they overcame early 1-0 deficits against St. Thomas and Cooper City. But Friday was different. When Sofia Perez got called for a hand ball inside the box eight minutes into the second half, Viera’s Allison Worley converted the penalty kick.
And it looked like it was going to stand up as Lourdes was down to its last 10 minutes. But with just over eight minutes left, Aguilar got a pass down deep in front of the net that Francesca de Zendegui got to before Cook did and knocked it home tying the score at one.
But Lourdes joy turned to despair just one minute later when the Bobcats were called for a foul just outside the penalty box. Worley took the free kick, which bounced off the crossbar back into play. Viera’s Talorie Crafton got to the rebound first and knocked it in with 7:02 left.
There was no time for sulking from the Bobcats as they immediately went in to desperation mode. And it paid off with just under four minutes left. When a ball came free down low in the Viera end, de Zendegui was in a foot race with Cook to get to the ball.
They both got there at the same time but de Zendegui managed to get enough of the ball to slowly send it on goal. It was a matter of whether Viera defender Lauren Machowski could get there first and clear it. She didn’t and the score was tied again.
“It was me and the keeper and who would get to it first,” de Zendegui said. “We kind of got there at the same time, and I managed to get enough on it to get it past her. When it was trickling toward the goal, it seemed like a half hour for that ball to get there.”
Said Atrio: “Each of the last three games we’ve gone down 1-0, so we know we’ve got what it takes to battle back. Today it was really took everything we had because we were down a goal very late. But there is just something about this team, something that’s really special. What an opportunity we have in front of us next week and for me maybe to close out my career with a state title. Wouldn’t that be something.”