The Centennial girls soccer team ended its regular season with a 2-1 overtime win over Howard on Monday afternoon.

The Eagles finished with an 8-5-1 overall record and went 6-4-1 in Howard County, while the Lions finished 5-7-1 and 4-6-1 respectively.

In overtime, Howard played a through ball past the Centennial defense and senior goalkeeper Erica Albornoz came out near the top of the box and made a slide tackle to win the ball.  But, the Lions had a second player coming in and Albornoz immediately won a second slide tackle, allowing the Eagles to clear the ball out of danger.

That was a huge sequence of events for Centennial because not long afterwards, freshman Ruthie Lucas scored the winning goal off an assist from junior defender Simone Jackson.   Jackson chipped the ball over the back line and Lucas beat the keeper to the ball and scored into the open net.

With five minutes left in the first half, Eagles senior forward Taylor Bourg got free behind the defense.  But Bourg’s shot hit square off the left post and the half finished tied at 0-0.

Midway through the second half, Howard was awarded a penalty kick for a handball in the box.  Emma Bruzdzinski converted to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.

Soon after Howard took a 1-0 lead, Bourg had a nice individual effort and hit a left footed shot from near the top of the penalty box to tie the game at 1-1.  Bourg leads Centennial with 7 goals and 4 assists.

“This was an exciting finish to the regular season, although we played very sluggish in the first half,” said Centennial coach Steve Baxter.  “I was very disappointed with our lack of movement, pace and quality during the entire first half.  We talked about it during the break and the players responded with a much better effort in the second half.  Although we really didn’t get in high gear until after Howard took the lead.  We outshot Howard 12-3 from the start of the second half to the game’s end thanks to a much better effort.”

Centennial 2, Howard 1

Goals: C-Bourg, R. Lucas; H-Bruzdzinski.

Assists: C-Jackson.

Saves: C-Donegan 5, Albornoz 5; H-Leatherman 8.