Isabella Daza tried to console her goalkeeper, McKenna Rogers, who was in tears.
Hannah Garris laid on the grass, physically spent with a left leg cramp, and eventually had to be helped off the field by teammates.
Taylor Carmichael came back in the second half after missing the last 20 minutes of the first half with a left ankle injury, sparking her team with incredible heart and a pair of goals that gave Rocky Mount Academy the lead.
For the second straight year, the Eagles gave it everything they had but left their home field in stunned shock as Davidson Day rallied with five second-half goals (including the match winner with six minutes left) to complete a 5-4 victory in the semifinals of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II playoffs.
The Patriots, the No. 3 seed, improved to 17-3 overall and will face No. 1 seed Trinity (12-2) in the state championship match today at Scalf Field on the campus of North Carolina Wesleyan University.
For the second consecutive year, the Eagles (18-1) experienced heartbreak in the final four and had their unbeaten season end against Davidson Day, the defending 2A state champions.
It was a case of, in boxing terms, if you come after the champion, you best knock him out.
“Having a 2-0 lead and scoring four goals against that keeper (junior Isabel Seifert, a Richmond commit), I would take it. I was feeling good at the half, but the first five minutes of the second half just turned everything around,” said RMA head coach Eric Gutshall. “They really got in our face and got some (goals) in the net. They were playing super physical in front of the goal and we had this deer in the headlights look for a few minutes. Taylor showed tremendous heart coming back and getting us back in the lead. I was feeling better then, but then they (Davidson Day) had another wave and we just didn’t have enough to finish the job.”
Had this been a boxing match, Davidson Day — on the heels of a three-hour bus ride — was the aggressor from the start. The Patriots generated some shots in the first five to seven minutes, but none of them really threatened Rogers.
RMA then staggered the defending champions with two goals: the first at 30:32 when Garris made a nice run down the left side and sent a shot that went through the normally sure-handed Seifert’s hands, and the second one nine minutes later when Millar Berry’s offering from the right side glanced the post and fell behind Siefert for a 2-0 Eagles lead.
But Gutshall warned his players at the half that it was not over, and what a prophetic statement that turned out to be as the teams combined for seven goals in the second stanza.
Davidson Day continued its aggressiveness and was able to generate several corner kicks that resulted in positive results.
“Our defense on the corner kicks could have been better,” Gutshall said. “That’s an experienced team with a lot of older players who have been there before, and they got in their minds at halftime that they were going to be physical, test our defense and test our keeper. They had a few in the first half but they weren’t super dangerous plays. They created a lot more opportunities for dangerous plays in the second half and we just gave up too many opportunities, which were limited in the first half.”
Davidson Day’s aggressiveness paid off handsomely in the second 40 minutes. Bella Franklin’s goal at 35:51 cut the deficit to 2-1, and barely over a minute later, Kyla Moore found the back of the net when a corner kick wasn’t cleared to tie the match at 2-all.
Emma Lippiner gave the Patriots a 3-2 lead when her shot sailed high and out of Rogers’ reach with 30:27 left.
But the Eagles got a big boost from the return of Carmichael. Her first goal of the half at 29:17 tied the score at 3-all, and three minutes later, her rebound follow off a cross from Berry gave RMA a 4-3 lead.
Davidson Day continued to attack on offense and win 50-50 balls near midfield and the Eagle defense was on their collective heels.
Maggie Hawkins made a run on the left side and sent a shot past a charging Rogers for a 4-4 tie with 17:30 remaining.
Berry’s cross to Garris in the box resulted in a header just wide of Siefert at 15:38. A few seconds later, Deanna Fiore had a shot that was wide left of Rogers.
A corner kick deflected to Kipenzi Perry, who scored with six minutes remaining to give the Patriots the one-goal lead they would not relinquish.
“After the first 10 minutes, I thought we played really good the final 30 minutes of the first half,” Gutshall said. “We looked like the team that was going to do it. But those first 10 minutes of the second half, again, we couldn’t overcome that and couldn’t get our mojo back.”
Gutshall praised his team for what it accomplished this season.
“The fact that we lost 10 seniors and seven starters and had only had one starter back on defense (Juhee Desai) and all the young players we had on defense who really stepped up … everyone played their butts off,” he said. “Everyone did everything I asked of them this season and showed a lot of heart tonight. That was all heart. That’s why this hurts.”
But Gutshall was upbeat about the future.
“Davidson Day and Trinity (the two 2A finalists this year) are moving to 3A and we have a lot of talent returning,” he said. “It’s there for us. Hopefully we can come back and get it.”
OTHER RESULT
Cape Fear 4 Northern Nash 1
Three goals in the first half proved more than Northern Nash could overcome as the No. 9 seed Knights fell to the No. 8 seed Colts in the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Class 3A state playoffs Thursday night in Fayetteville.
Cape Fear improved to 20-4-1 overall and advanced to the third round against top seed Western Alamance, while Northern Nash ended its season at 15-6 overall as the Big East 2A/3A Conference co-regular season champions.
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