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Maxwell goal helps Monticello end long drought against CHS

Photo by Ashley Thornton
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With a little more than 10 minutes to play, the ball ricocheted off Monticello’s Evie Maxwell’s stick and just crossed the goalline before Charlottesville’s keeper pushed it back out. In a game that was a scoreless tie with time running out, there’s no way the Mustangs’ senior was letting that go.

 

“I just started screaming ‘It went over the line, it went over’ and I guess she heard me,” Maxwell said.

 

An official blew the play dead and after sorting out some confusion, credited Monticello with the goal and the lead. It’s been nearly four full seasons since Monticello beat Charlottesville, a long wait for the Mustangs and Maxwell, a senior, in particular. Her goal and a shutout effort by the Monticello defense helped ensure that the Mustangs’ wait ended Thursday as Monticello beat Charlottesville for the first time since 2011, winning 1-0.

 

“Having worked so hard the past three years I’ve been on varsity and finally doing it, it feels great,” Maxwell said. “Everyone on the team played awesome tonight — everything came together and that’s the best feeling .”

 

In a hard fought game where the ball was hung up the midfield for much of the contest, Monticello had to fight and scrap to win enough 50/50 balls to at least get a sizeable chunk of the possession split. A quartet of Mustangs played a huge role in that effort, with high center midfielder Paige McGlothlin, Sarah Alberts, Makayla Whitehurst and Natalie Gibson at rear center mid, Monticello leaned on a mix of experience, speed and athleticism roaming the middle.

 

“In the past we’ve had the teams that can do the big passes kind of thing but our team this year is all about the little passes, working hard and scrapping in the middle,” said Monticello coach Katie Martin. “I think ultimately we came out with that one extra punch that we needed.”

 

They also withstood several fast break chances by the Black Knights that too often didn’t end in shots. The Black Knights are particularly young after graduating a brigade worth of seniors last year including long-time stalwart Kendall Ballard, now at Ohio. Now they’re rebuilding with a lot of players taking on significant roles for the first time.

 

“They’re a bunch of perfectionists and they don’t want to mess up,” said Charlottesville coach Lindsay Larson. “We’re kind of scared to do it ourselves.”

 

Charlottesville managed just three shots on goal with Emily Blow, one of the lone experienced players left on the Black Knights’ roster, providing two of those shots.

 

“Some athletes it’s like ‘I don’t care I’m going to be super aggressive’ and that’s Emily Blow,” Larson said. “She’s helping us get to that level. That’s really been our struggle this season is (trying) to match that.”

 

Monticello, on the other hand, put together 10 shots on goal, with seven coming after the break. Putting the pressure on the Charlottesville defense eventually paid off with Maxwell’s goal and the win for the Mustangs.

 

“I’ve been the head coach for three years now and this is probably the best game I’ve seen us play period,” Martin said. “The biggest thing we have to work on is a confidence level on the field and they did exactly what I needed them to do out there and I could not be more proud of what I saw.”

 

Monday the Mustangs will look to make it two in a row against Powhatan at home while Charlottesville will try and get on track against Albemarle on the road Monday night at 7 p.m.

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