McCarriher’s header lifts Glenelg over River Hill in double overtime

If there is one thing that can be said for Glenelg’s girls soccer team, it’s that they are in very good shape.  Having gone to double overtime in five of the six games played this season, the Gladiators have been doing a lot of running.

“Our conditioning has become playing games,” said Glenelg coach Dean Sheridan about the 100 minutes of running his team has been doing.  “We can’t condition away from games because of that.”

The Gladiators have gone into double overtime in each of their last three games and Tuesday night with No. 10 River Hill was no different.

Well, there was one difference, Glenelg either tied or lost the previous extra session matches but finally broke through when senior midfielder Rachel McCarriher headed a throw-in from junior midfielder Danielle Burris (Game winner).  The goal, coming a little over a minute into double overtime, gave the Gladiators a 1-0 upset victory over the Hawks.

“Danielle gave a perfect ball, it couldn’t have been placed any better,” said McCarriher.  “I was going to do anything to get on it.  We had so many chances for that play to happen so I knew where the ball was going to be.  I can tell when she’s tired how far she’s going to throw it so it was kind of easy to read.”

Glenelg improved to 2-2-2 overall and 1-1-2 in Howard County play while River Hill suffered its first setback of the season and dropped to 6-1-0 and 3-1-0 respectively.

“This was the fifth time we’ve tied in six games and we finally won one of them,” said Sheridan.  “You’ve got to give River Hill credit, they came out harder than we did in overtime but with [River Hill midfielder] Kellie Song and Danielle, one of us was going to through it in before it was over.  We were just fortunate that it was Danielle before Kellie.”

The Hawks came out quickly in the first overtime and had several chances to score.  Freshman Sheridan Street played the ball ahead to senior Anna Theisen who drew Glenelg keeper Brooke Carey out of the goal but Theisen pushed it just wide of the net.

River Hill’s best chance to score came just before the end of the first overtime when senior Kellie Song threw-in a ball that was headed up in the air by the defense and corralled by Street.  She kicked the ball to the far side of the goal but a diving Carey (six saves) got just enough of it to deflect it away. (clip)

After making the save, junior defender Megan Pawtowski came over and gave Carey a big hug.  A lot of credit has to be given to the Gladiators’ back line that includes Pawtowski, senior captain Liz Ebeling and junior Casey Vantucci.

“We communicated a lot more [today] and I feel like having that communication with our keeper is really good,” said Ebeling, who plays sweeper.  “I can’t always see everything so Brooke is always there behind me; she’s like my second pair of eyes.”

The defense has been steady for Glenelg all season.  The team opened the season with No. 5 John Carroll and had a scoreless tie after two overtimes.  Since it was a tournament, the game went to penalty kicks and the Patriots eventually pulled it out.

Two weeks ago, the Gladiators played to a 0-0 tie with No. 8 Reservoir.  Last week, Glenelg dropped a game to Mount Hebron 1-0 in double overtime and played to a 2-2 tie with Atholton. But the overtime curse was lifted after McCarriher’s score.

“I am so excited,” said McCarriher.  “We went into overtime in four of our games and we just needed to win one to boast our confidence.  We’ve played with every team and didn’t let any goals in except for Hebron.”

Next up for Glenelg is a matchup with Oakland Mills on Friday.  River Hill will look to rebound when they travel to Wilde Lake, also on Friday.

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