In the playoffs, the goal is to simply survive.
For the Woods Charter and Seaforth girls’ soccer teams, the wins weren’t the prettiest, but that doesn’t matter. They’re moving on to the fourth round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs on Thursday.
Starting in the 2A East bracket, No. 4 Seaforth defeated No. 5 Manteo 2-1 in the third round Monday thanks to a score by senior Caitlin Erman in a third sudden death overtime period.
With under three minutes left in the overtime period, Seaforth junior Sofia Viana sent a pass to the left for Erman, and after gathering herself, she sent a shot from the top of the penalty area to the top center of the net.
Before the overtime period, the Hawks found themselves trailing for the first time since March 19 (2-1 loss to Cardinal Gibbons) and had to fight their way back into the game.
With just two minutes remaining in the first half, Manteo senior Kenzie Flynn chased down a floating pass and tapped the ball in the net as Seaforth’s goalkeeper Katie Leonard moved towards her.
Crucial saves from Leonard and some tough breaks for Manteo kept the game within reach, though, including a foul against the Redskins that set up a free kick for Erman. Erman’s kick bounced off the Manteo goalkeeper, and freshman Amara Darden tapped in the rebound to tie the game with less than 10 minutes left in regulation.
Seaforth will travel to No. 1 Franklin Academy in the fourth round Thursday. It’ll be a rematch of last year’s fourth round meeting in which the Hawks won 1-0 on the way to winning the 2A state title.
In the 1A East bracket, a goal from sophomore Annabel Unah was all No. 2 Woods Charter needed to advance past No. 10 Voyager Academy 1-0 in a third-round rematch of last year’s regional final.
After the Wolves misfired on plenty of scoring opportunities in the first half, Unah dribbled through the Vikings’ physical defense and sent the ball past the goalkeeper just a few minutes into the second half.
“I just kept pushing,” Unah said. “I looked at my corners like my coach tells me, always put it to the corners. And I knew I had someone on me, but I just kept pushing.”
For the rest of the second half, the challenge came with maintaining the lead.
Junior goalkeeper Grace Wilson made some huge saves, including a risky one in which she ran up to meet sophomore Abby Anderson and snagged her shot after Anderson broke free with no other Woods Charter defender ahead.
“The only thing going through my mind is that I want to go and get the ball,” Wilson said. “I’ll do anything to go and get it.”
And with that mindset, the young Woods Charter team is continuing to go and take what’s been theirs for years — a fourth straight appearance in the fourth round. After the loss of many key seniors from last year’s state runner ups, Woods Charter hasn’t gone anywhere.
“The kids believe now,” Woods Charter coach Graeme Stewart said. “I’m really proud of such a young team mixing it against a really strong, capable Voyager team today.”
The Wolves will host No. 3 Lejeune Thursday.
Prior to the third round, Woods Charter beat No. 15 Roxboro Community 6-3 on May 16 on the back of three goals from sophomore Lucy Poitras. Another four goals from Unah and three more from Poitras led the Wolves over No. 31 Cape Hatteras in the first round. Unah now has six goals in this playoff run.
No. 26 Chatham Charter fell to No. 7 North Moore in the first round 8-0. The Knights finished their season with a 5-15 overall record.
Back in the 2A playoffs, Seaforth’s playoff run was met with difficulty before facing Manteo.
In the second round, No. 13 NCSSM-Durham held the Hawks scoreless for nearly an hour until Viana aced a free kick and lifted Seaforth to a 1-0 victory.
Erman went off for six goals and led the Hawks to a 9-0 first-round win over No. 29 Red Springs.
Also in the 2A East playoffs, No. 16 Northwood played top-seeded Franklin Academy tough, but the Patriots pulled away late to beat the Chargers 3-1 in the second round.
Northwood beat a familiar conference foe in No. 17 Southeast Alamance 4-3 in the first round. The Chargers ended their season with a 13-9-1 overall record.
