WA 1 @ Summerville 0 (OT)

West Ashley (Region 7, third place seed) continued its "Doing it the Hard Way Tour '05" tonight against the Green Wave of Summerville (Region 8 undisputed #1 seed) on McKissick Field and, once again, showed that they could and would do it the hard way. Summerville brought a credible, technically adept team to their home field and delighted the somewhat whiney home crowd ("She's out of the box again!!!") by pushing the visiting Wildcats to OT. WA presented its conservative defensive lineup at the start of the game and seemed to hold a slight edge throughout the scoreless first half, with an edge in quality shots on goal.

The Greenwave (what exactly is a Greenwave?) came out forcefully in the second half and played WA even for the first 20 minutes. Player of the game award clearly would be awarded to WA defender Danielle Jordan, for her control of the WA backfield, with kudos to Thomas, Purvis, Lee, Abbate and Gillespie for thier contributions. Regulation play ended 0-0, as it had in the first meeting of these two teams on a cold March night.

WA moved into overdrive in the OT periods, moving Jordan, Bolt and Lexis Brothers up top. 95% of the first 10 minute OT was played at a furious pace in or just in front of the Summerville box. 2 minutes into the second OT period Jenny Ann Jackson lofted a deep throw in toward the goal and Bolt headed it to the waiting feet of Jordan who placed a soft right footed (?) shot beyond the outstretched S'ville goalie's arms to the left corner of the net. WA then assumed a more defensive posture and ran the clock out for the victory, though Candace Jordan, Anna Gillespie, Jenny-Ann Jackson and Thompson were able to threaten the S'ville goal a time or two. West Ashley's keeper, the indomitable Alechia Brothers had a great game. Refereeing was even handed and very accurate, though they allowed more contact than I feel is warranted.

Congratulations to the West Ashley girls for keeping the dream alive on the "Doin' It the Hard Way Tour '05". Next stop rumored to be Wando...

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