A lane suddenly opened up in the Monticello defense giving Ana Reuss a chance. The Hornets’ midfielder reacted quickly, and hit a knuckler of a drive toward the Monticello goal with 3:31 left in overtime as the squads engaged .
“It was more spread out and they had less players, so we were able to work together more,” Reuss said.
The shot slipped through and Orange County edged the Mustangs 2-1 to push the Hornets to 2-0 in their return campaign to the Jefferson District.
The Hornets jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Anna Bosworth scored for Orange by finishing off a loose ball near the net. The Hornets’ offense controlled the pace nearly the entire first half, employing a lot of the same crisp passing that allowed Orange to beat Albemarle 2-0 earlier this week.
“I think we improved from the other night (against AHS) to tonight,” said Orange coach Tricia Grabeel. “The touch passes still all there and give and goes all over the place.”
But the Mustangs bounced back after the break, creating a lot of chances with aggressive hitting in the midfield that got the ball into the alleys and allowed the Mustangs to threaten the Hornets’ lead.
“This was the first time we’ve seen Orange in a couple of years and we didn’t quite know what to expect,” said Monticello coach Katie Martin. “But in the second half they really picked it up.”
Eventually, Kathryn Deane equalized with a tricky back-hand style shot with her back essentially facing the Orange goal. The Mustangs have made clear strides at orchestrating a quick, efficient counter-attack.
“We’ve been working on that a lot in practice, using the space of the field instead of getting sucked in to one side and really allowing multiple players to use their skills,” Martin said.
The Mustangs couldn’t manage the go-ahead goal after Deane’s score, and Orange couldn’t come up with the game-winner either, which forced the squads into overtime tied at 1-1. That’s when Reuss struck and ended the game during 7v7.
“I was really afraid that we would not have the legs left but we did,” Grabeel said. “We played really hard against Albemarle, we played really hard tonight.”
The Hornets continue their road-heavy first trip through the Jefferson District Tuesday when they head to Crozet to face Western Albemarle while the Mustangs will try and bounce back on the road against Powhatan that same night.
