CCBC Essex Knights Women’s Soccer Team Loses in a Double Overtime Nail Biter

By Ben Wagner

Rossville, Md. – The CCBC Essex Knights women's soccer team lost a nail biter to Harford Community College in double overtime by a final score of 3-2.

Reflecting on his team's performance Head Coach Steve King said "Overall, we played well. We played well enough to win. There are clearly things we have to improve on. It was a good game credit to them, but I definitely think we put ourselves in a chance to win. We created some good opportunities and had some good one on ones, but we just didn't execute."

The first half started off really strong for both teams as both teams pressed each other on offense and created plenty of shots on each other's nets. Kylie Staubitz had the first shot on goal for the Knights in the fifth minute of the game. The Knights won a lot of great 50/50 balls early in the first half but continued to struggle with staying onsides.

Jamie Moyer opened up the game for Harford with a great goal in the 42nd minute of the game, giving Harford a 1-0 lead. After Harford's goal, the Knights pressured hard and landed a few good shots on Harford towards the latter part of the first half but couldn't put the ball in the net.

When asked what Head Coach Steve King told his players at half time down 1-0, King said "Just fundamentals. It wasn't that they were outplaying us it was just keeping the ball, finding the ball, and possessing it. We're talented enough that we are able to knock it and then create things after that."

The CCBC Essex Knights came out hungry for a goal in the second half and continued where they left off at the end of the first. They were pressuring the ball and creating good opportunities up front. In the 62nd minute, Staubitz put a solid shot on frame that was barely saved by Harford's goalkeeper Evie Heinlein. In the 64th minute, the Knights got fouled in the box and Wysong put a beautiful ball in the goal off of the resulting penalty kick.

Harford played with more intensity after the Knights tied the game but were not able to capitalize right after the equalizer. Kaila Blizzard put the Knights ahead with a goal in the 77th minute of the game giving the Knights a 2-1 lead. When asked how this goal felt, Blizzard said "I was excited and happy and was hoping that it would give us the advantage to finish the game." Harford came outplayed the Knights after Blizzard's goal and Lauren Westbrook put in the equalizer in the 81st minute. Each team had a few more chances in the last ten minutes of the game but were unable to score.

In the first overtime period, the Knights looked to end the game by out shooting Harford 4-1 but were unable to land one in the net. Halfway through the second overtime period, Westbrook got her second goal of the night, winning the game for Harford in the 105th minute of play. The Knights finished the game with a season-high 18 shots.

CCBC Essex women's soccer has a quick turnaround and plays Brookdale at home Sunday morning at 10:00am. When asked how this devastating loss would affect their play on Sunday, Blizzard said "It's just important to remember that you can learn from this and we can always get better."