Sheyenne Allen (8) of Charter drives the ball past Mary Warren (22) of Middletown in a Charter at Middletown girls soccer game on Wednesday.
Sam Peters (1) of Charter tries to settle the ball as Alexandra Rodriguez (11) of Middletown approaches in a Charter at Middletown girls soccer game on Wednesday.
Taylor Mitchell (18) of Charter and Kelsey Hott compete for control of the ball in a Charter at Middletown girls soccer game on Wednesday.
Leigh Willis (8) of Middletown and Leah Frerichs (22) of Charter collide in the air in Charter at Middletown girls soccer game on Wednesday.
Taylor Wolf (9) makes a save for Middletown as Charter;s Felicia Flores (26) and Alli Munro (25) avoid contacting her in a Charter at Middletown girls soccer game on Wednesday.
MIDDLETOWN – It looked like the Charter School of Wilmington girls soccer team was on their way to pulling ahead of host Middletown in the Flight A championship race.
Sophomore forward Rachel Finelli changed all of that with one quick burst to the net and forced a 1-1 tie that kept the Cavaliers unbeaten and even with Charter and cross-town rival Appoquinimink for first place in Flight A.
“Being down 1-0 with 14, 15 minutes in the game, a lot of teams don’t come back from that,” Cavaliers coach Brian Derrickson said. “This was a huge step forward for our program.”
“They were undefeated coming in, so we definitely knew this would be a tough game,” Force head coach Jon Gillespie said. “I think we’re disappointed that we kept them in the game the way we did.”
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It didn’t look like the Force (4-2-1 overall, 3-0-1 Flight A) would have too much trouble as freshman Sheyanne Allen banged home a rebound with just over eight minutes left in the first half to give Charter a 1-0 advantage. The score remained that way for another 37 minutes until Finelli booted a shot by oncoming Charter goalie Jenna Lussier that rolled into the net to even the game up.
“I really didn’t think she was going to do that,” Finelli said of Lussier coming out to challenge her. “Megan Jolikko gave me a great ball and I saw that it was a big opportunity to score for my team.”
After that goal, there were some close calls on both sides, but neither team could find the net again and the Cavs (now 8-0-1, 5-0-1 in Flight A) are feeling better about their chances to win their conference and make the state tournament.
“I think this gives our girls confidence,” Derrickson said. “We know we’re a good team with hungry seniors and talented underclassmen.”
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“This is a building block for us,” Rachel Finelli added. “We’re only going to go up from here.”