Xavier girls’ soccer survive OT battle

DEWITT - Cedar Rapids Xavier girls soccer Coach Beth Samek wasn't worried about having to fire up her team in overtime after it gave up the tying goal with less than three minutes left in regulation.

'With this team they were already fired up,” Samek said. 'The second overtime it was more a matter of slowing them down, telling them that composure was going to be important.”

Elena Minor scored the golden goal from about 25 yards out for a 2-1 double overtime victory over No. 11 DeWitt Central in a Class 2A regional semifinal. The Saints play at No. 3 North Scott Monday for the right to go to the state tournament. The Sabers finished 15-2.

The winner came in the 94th minute after the Saints (8-9) lost two starting defenders, Grace McDermott and Avery Campbell, to injuries.

'Throughout the overtime we were really determined,” Minor said. 'We were not calm on the ball at first, but after a while we found ways to connect passes through. Paige (Diebold) played the ball through, and then she dropped it back. It was all the passes through all the defenders, so it wasn't just a one-person thing.”

Minor also scored the first goal on a through ball in the 24th minute. That looked like it would hold up until DeWitt's Sydney Small sneaked in the tying goal in the 78th minute.

'She was speedy on the outside, got a good first touch around one of our defenders and found the goal,” Samek said of Small's shot. 'We needed to guard that near post; we didn't.”

The defense played very well until that moment, bottling up the speedy Small on the wing.

'Our defensive line did well getting the ball back up for our offense,” Samek said. 'Unfortunately Central DeWitt really packed it in. We didn't move the ball around as much as I would have liked.”

McDermott, the Saints' top defender, was flipped and hit her head in the final minute of regulation and was held out of the overtimes.

'It was hard, but I just knew the girls out there could get it done,” McDermott said. 'I could see the determination in their eyes.”