Mount de Sales senior defender Karis Tate made her only shot of the day with nine seconds left in double overtime to lift the host Sailors to a 3-2 victory over St. Mary’s on Wednesday in the Interscholastic Athletic Associaton of Maryland B Conference semifinals.
The win advanced them to the finals against second-seeded Severn at 3 p.m. Sunday at Calvert Hall.
The top-seeded Sailors (10-4-1) rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits and ended it after solid scoring threat Kaitlyn Varisco left the game with a leg injury with two minutes remaining.
The game-winning play started with a corner kick from Abby Tingler that bounced to Julia Conley. She passed it back to Tingler a few yards in front of where she took the corner and she floated it to Tate who headed it past goalie Abby Hanks (nine saves).
“I knew we were coming down to a short time and I did not want to go into penalty kicks,” Tate said. “[The St. Mary’s goalie] was like kind of toward the middle, so I was just trying to hit it down because a few times this year I hit it over.”
She didn’t expect to be in a dire situation after the Sailors outshot the Saints 12-5 in the first half, but the Saints (12-5) made the most of their opportunities and broke on top 1-0 after a corner kick from freshman Emma Gray was put away by Elizabeth Schummer with 16 minutes left in the first half.
Mount de Sales got the equalizer with 8:34 left in the half when Tingler’s soft, high feed into the box was deposited by Evie Nugent. The match remained tied at halftime.
“That’s a good team,” Mount de Sales coach Dave Manser said. “They came to play and we didn’t execute and capitalize on our opportunities early and let them hang around and credit to them, they played a good game.”
With nine minutes left, St. Mary’s took the lead when Gray converted Kendall Day’s cross.
Less than a minute later, Nugent was taken down in the box and a penalty kick — or two — ensued.
On the first one. Hamel’s kick sailed high, but Hanks was called for leaving the goal line early. Hamel’s second chance tied the score.
“We almost blew that opportunity, but to come back and Lyla Hamlin made the PK,” Manser said.
Both defenses were stellar for the final eight minutes and first 10-minute overtime. St. Mary’s was led by Molly Styskal, Madelyn Mitchell, Avery Jo Katski and Kaylen-Marie Burnham. The Sailors’ defensive force was anchored by wingbacks Misa Coleman and Hamel and center backs Tate and Allie Lindner.
“Our defense has carried us a lot this year,” Manser said. “We have a phenomenal back four, a great goalie and it’s really about building out from there and the kids bought into possession and passing and that’s swinging the ball and all those kinds of things.”
Neither team got a close chance in the overtimes until the Sailors struck in the end, leaving the Saints demoralized.
“I’m beyond proud of our group and I think we should have come away with a win,” St. Mary’s coach Sarah DeWitt said. “Mount de Sales is a good side and we showed up ready to play and were spectacular.
“We are a young squad, we are rebuilding. We were 1-6 in our conference last year, so for us, this whole season we’ve been the underdog and I couldn’t be prouder of what the girls put together. And the fact that I think everybody in the stands would agree that we were playing to win.”
The Sailors were just trying to fulfill a goal they set before the season.
“We’ve been talking about making it, that’s our goal was to make it to the championship game since Aug. 15,” Manser said. “I told them right before the last halftime. ‘This is it. Make our goal. Go out and make it happen.’ Somebody has got to step up and do it and Karis did.”
The trip to the finals is the first since they lost in double overtime to Severn in 2021.They also lost the title to Maryvale Prep on penalty kicks in 2019. The Sailors have never won an IAAM crown.
Tate was excited to defeat some of her friends on St. Mary’s, but sympathetic.
“I actually live in Annapolis, so I’m friends with a lot of girls on the team,” she said. “I played club ball with a few of them. It’s bittersweet. I’m sad for them, but I’m mostly happy the way it went.”
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