Rams rally for overtime playoff soccer win

Smith coach Scott Duff gave his starters one last pep talk before they took the field for the second half in a 1-1 tie with Northeast Guilford Wednesday night at Ram Stadium.

"I've believed in you all year long," Duff said at halftime of the NCHSAA 3-A playoff match. "Now let's go take it to 'em."

And that's exactly what the Golden Eagles (9-8-1) did in only their second playoff game in the last dozen years. Senior Brian Woodward, the Golden Eagles' career scoring leader, pushed Smith into a 2-1 lead with a goal just three minutes into the second half. Woodward danced through the Northeast defense and finished with a shot past Dustin Jones to give the Eagles their first lead of the night in this first-round contest.

Just under 10 minutes later, the lead grew to 3-1 when Bojan Riac, the nimble-footed Yugoslavian, toed one past Jones.

Pandomonium reigned on the BLS sideline, but Woodward already was thinking ahead.

"Yes, I was excited at 3-1," he said after the match. "But with 27 minutes left, I knew there was lots of soccer left."

Indeed, Northeast rallied behind forward John Lebaube, who scored three goals, including the game winner in the second overtime, as the Triad Conference champion Rams garnered a 4-3 victory over the third seed from the Piedmont Triad Conference.

Like Woodward, Lebaube had his doubts -- but for different reasons.

"Down 3-1 I was thinking that there's no way we're going to win," Lebaube said. "We're not going to come back."

The comeback started with a penalty kick. The Golden Eagles were whistled for a foul in the goal area and Lebaube pushed the ball just to the right of BLS keeper Jeremy Webb.

That came with 25:24 left to play, a long time for Smith to preserve a now slender one-goal edge.

Lebaube tied it with 9:14 left off a pass from Spence Southard, who scored the Rams' lone first-half goal. That, in effect, sent the game to overtime, where Lebaube won it with a shot just past Webb with 5:20 left in the second 10-minute period.

Northeast dominated action most of the night in terms of shots on goal with 35, but Webb rose to the occasion with 19 saves.

It was a disheartening loss for Webb, who is a senior and was playing in his final prep game. But the senior goalie was proud of what his team accomplished.

"I don't think we could have played better," Webb said of the exciting match. "I think we proved a lot down the stretch. We won five of our last seven, and the two losses were tonight and a 4-2 loss to highly-ranked Southwest. I have expectations for this team next year."

Woodward echoed that sentiment. The senior forward, who closed out his career with two more goals, gave an emotional speech to his teammates afterwards.

"When I was a ninth-grader, everybody thought Smith soccer was a joke," Woodward said. "The move down to 3-A when I was a sophomore helped and we made the playoffs. We struggled last year, but came back to make the playoffs again this year with a great stretch run.

"I'm going onto college, but I expect this team will make the playoffs next year. No, I know it will."

Woodward has applied to Howard University, which does not give scholarships to freshmen.

"I plan to walk on," Woodward said, "with an academic scholarship. Howard has a rich soccer tradition. It is a little down this year, but the Bison won a national title in Division I, something few soccer fans know."

Northeast improved to 16-4-3. The Rams will host Fuquay-Varina Saturday.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page