Keeping its playoff hopes alive, the Rockbridge County High School girls soccer team earned a 2-1 comeback win at home over Staunton in the final game of the regular season on Friday evening in Lexington. It was the third consecutive win for the Wildcats (8-8-0 overall, 6-6-0 district).
The game was scoreless until the final nine minutes. The Wildcats (8-8-0), coming off a 7-0 road win over Valley District rival East Rockingham on Thursday, were down 1-0 when Staunton (8-6-2), a nondistrict rival also battling for a playoff spot, scored when Elizabeth Lowman scored inside off a cross with 8:40 left in the game.
About a minute later, the Wildcats answered back when Lucy Boller-Pinkham converted a point-blank shot to tie the game 1-1.
RC senior goalkeeper Sophia Perlozzo made several of her 11 saves over the next few minutes to keep the score tied.
The Wildcats then scored the winning goal when Lydia Kendall fired a long shot from Staunton goalkeeper Emma Mayson’s left side with 2:55 left.
With the win, the Wildcats completed a sweep of the regular-season series. When the teams met on May 2 in Staunton, RC won 3-1.
The Wildcats, who improved throughout head coach Danny Wheeler’s first season, after an 0-4 start, will find out on Monday night whether or not they are one of the eight teams to advance to the Region 3C tournament, which is scheduled to start with the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Last year, the Wildcats went 5-11 and did not make the playoffs.
Check back here to find out if the Wildcats make the playoffs. For the full story and photos from this week’s action, please see our May 22 newspaper.