During overtime, the Lincoln Southwest girls soccer team had one of its shots hit off the goal post and another shot bounce off the crossbar, and maybe it was one of those matches when it just isn’t your day.
Until it was their day.
With just nine seconds to spare before the match against Gretna went to a shootout, Southwest scored the game-winning goal on a free kick by senior Charley Kort.
Southwest won 2-1 at UBT Stadium in a showdown of the No. 1- and No. 3-ranked teams in Class A. Top-ranked Southwest kept its undefeated season going into the sixth week of the season at 11-0.
The Metro Conference, where Gretna plays, may be stronger overall than Southwest’s Heartland Athletic Conference, but Southwest now has wins against two of the best teams from the Metro (Omaha Marian and Gretna).
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“We went into the match knowing that we’ve lost to them three times in a row, and we haven’t ever beaten Gretna, and they ended our season the last two years (at state),” Kort said. “We came in with a lot of energy, and it was a really competitive game. I just think we wanted it more at the end. I’m so proud of these girls — they’re so talented.”
Each of the regulation goals were scored on penalty kicks in the first half. London DeFini scored first for Gretna (7-4) with 11 minutes left in the half.
Four minutes later, Kort tied the match with her goal by penalty kick.
In the second half, Southwest had two nice scoring chances on breakaways but didn’t convert. And Southwest had even more chances in the final five minutes of overtime.
Then, with nine seconds left in overtime, Kort converted on a free kick from about 30 yards with a shot that went just inside the right post.
“We were on the front foot the whole time, and I was just glad to put that one away,” Kort said.
Her second goal of the match was a team-best 12th of the season for the Omaha soccer signee. Kort returned to the match after missing about 15 minutes after going down with an ankle injury early in the first half.
“When you hit the post two times before it, you kind of look up into the sky and ask if it’s one of those days,” Southwest coach Thomas Nettleton said. “Charley is just lethal from anywhere on the field. So with the wind at her back, it was kind of a no-brainer that she would put it on target. She’s just very effective from distance.”
Nettleton said the wins against Omaha Marian and Gretna show the Silver Hawks are a very competitive team this year.
“They’re both very good,” he said. “What Marian did to Gretna East in the Metro final (a 3-1 win) proves that they’re very strong. And the stat line between Marian and us was like 51-49 in almost every (statistical category). Everything was almost even. They’re very, very good.”
Southwest has conceded just three goals all season — one each against Omaha Marian, Kearney and Gretna.
Senior Clara Fundus was the winning goalkeeper on Saturday.
“She’s been a very strong goalkeeper,” Nettleton said. “In a 1-0 game against Columbus, she had, like, five saves. And in a 1-0 game against Lincoln Pius X, she made a couple of really good saves.”
