Last time the Monticello’s girls soccer squad faced off against Liberty Bealeton you could hardly blame the Mustangs for running out of gas a little in a 2-2 tie. Several of the squad’s starters had several games in a short span between the Mustangs’ schedule and club soccer’s Jefferson Cup slate in Richmond.
“We had a bunch of girls who’d essentially played six games in four days,” said first-year Monticello coach Paul Burrows. “The legs started to show late but they showed so much heart to come back and tie the game up in the last 25 minutes. We’ve got a lot of good in this team.”
The Mustangs showed a lot of that good while making up for lost time Tuesday night against the Eagles, rolling 3-1 with a balanced offensive outing, getting goals out of Emily Larabee, Ellie Linkous and Kathryn Deane in the victory.
Larrabee struck first off an assist from Cary Wingo with 10 minutes left in the first half. Linkous added to the lead with a goal early in the second half on a Claire Wolanski assist, giving the Mustangs control of the game as the squad continued to do a solid job in the midfield.
“We were able to hold it together in the midfield and pretty much control the play and put it where we wanted to,” Burrows said.
The Mustangs held on from there as Liberty got on the board when the Eagles got loose on a fastbreak and Aubri Crummett connected with Brittanie King to pull Liberty within a goal with 12 minutes to play. The Eagles appeared to tie it just four minutes later, but the goal was waved off.
That opened the door for Deane, a freshman who had a huge impact on the Mustangs’ field hockey squad when she moved to varsity late last year, to close the game out with a crucial goal with 5:12 to play, giving Monticello an insurmountable lead.
“Liberty played us a very tough game last week and we expected another tough game this week,” Burrows said. “We would have liked to do things a little bit better, I don’t think our game was quite on today.”
After a nearly two week break that includes the school’s spring break, the Mustangs will face a strong test against traditional power Charlottesville High April 16.
