Fluvanna County’s Sarah Duffau didn’t make a big deal about it — to her the game was about the bounces. There were plenty of those for both squads. In a game that saw five goals and overtime, the cross bar and rebounds were friendly to both schools. But in the last five minutes of regulation and the first overtime, the Flyin’ Flucos’ timing just happened to be enough to escape from Monticello on the road with a 3-2 overtime win.
“We couldn’t be prouder and this team showed a lot of character being down twice in the game,” said Fluvanna coach Tara Garcia. “They worked hard and wanted this game.”
It was a tough start for the Flucos as Monticello’s backfield was consistently able to cut off the fast breaks. Ten minutes into the game, the first bounce went the Mustangs way when Kathleen Fox finished a breakaway on a ball that was misfielded by Fluvanna’s defense and consequently tucked into the back of the net.
While Danielle Helms had a number of first half chances, the junior wasn’t able to get much help and saw the Flucos take to halftime down one with their best scoring chances coming on a trio of corner kicks. However, in the second half the Fluvanna offense came to life when Helms was able to make it a 1-1 game in the first eight minutes out of the break on a rebound.
“I knew I needed to follow on the kick and had a lucky shot,” Helms said. “We started to play up a lot more then, we weren’t back as much and that had a lot to do with it.”
The celebration was short lived though as Alexis Mallory answered back for Monticello on an incredible shot from deep on the right sideline that cleared the Fluvanna defense and was uncontestable as it arced into the net midway through the second half.
“That’s a freshman right there,” said Monticello assistant coach Jamal Millner. “She was really stretching them out with her speed and that was a great shot.”
For the rest of regulation, Fluvanna battled to find a way to tie up the game, but it wasn’t until crunch time with just over two minutes to play that they caught a great bounce on a rebound and Duffau was able to provide the equalizer.
“Right time and right place,” Duffau said. “Really, it took the whole team to get us there.”
The momentum carried right over into overtime for the Flucos as Duffau struck again, this time on a shot from Helms that hit the cross bar and kicked out and was passed to her for a clean look into an open net. She didn’t miss or just slip it in, she managed to top shelf it on a tip, and with Fluvanna’s defense keeping Monticello quiet from there on, the Flucos successfully pulled out the come-from-behind win.
“It went off the cross bar and Danielle Helms got it to and again, right time, right place,” Daffau said. “I was lucky to be there.”
For the Mustangs, the loss stings but the effort was there as they kept up with the perennial Jefferson District power.
“It’s a cruel game sometimes, especially for us in the first half when you half the lion’s share of possessions,” Millner said. “But on those chances that we had to finish we were unable to finish. Fluvanna only a few chances and they finished on most of them. They were very good on their approach.”
Fluvanna (4-1, 2-1) hosts William Monroe on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
Monticello (3-2, 2-1) travels William Monroe for a rescheduled game on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
