Second Half Heroics Give Badgers Back to Back Wins

Dave Levy, Athletic Director
Varsity Girls Soccer - With the clock frozen at 2:00, the game was deep into stoppage time. The Badgers were protecting a one goal lead. Tandem was in a great position, looking to keep the ball in their offensive zone and take time off the clock. Quantico gained possession and cleared the ball up the field to their best striker - and she had a clear lane to the goal. Hadley, also a striker, looked up and surveyed the field. She could not have been farther away from the ball - the opponent was already at mid-field, but, as far as Hadley was concerned, there was simply no way Quantico was going to score the tying goal.
 
She took off at a breakneck speed, generating even more wind than Monday's tornado. The distance between the two players grew smaller as Quantico, believing she had lots of space, looked for an angle to launch the game-tying shot. By the time Quantico's forward reared back to shoot, Hadley was mirroring her movements - challenging the opponent, tackling the ball away, and creating a special Tandem soccer moment as the ball rolled harmlessly out of bounds. In the words of Coach Tim, "the amount of effort it took as a forward, the highest player on the field, to run a dead sprint for 60 meters after 80 minutes of soccer to shut down Quantico's last gasp was absolutely incredible." If you were on the hill, you'll never forget it.
Playing their second game in two days, the Girls Varsity Soccer Badgers made their home debut a special one. In the first half, the Badgers dominated possession. Nieve, who was exceptional in the mid-field, made a beautiful pass to Hadley for a breakaway. Hadley battled with her defender, won the ball, and launched a laser at the goal - it just barely went over the net.
 
The game was scoreless for the first twenty minutes, and Althea was busy. She showed off excellent footwork, setting up her teammates, and working closely with Zoey on the right side of the field. Althea took what Quantico gave her - the sideline - and kept moving the ball deeper into the offensive zone. Even with the 18', Althea sent the ball ahead to Zoey and got knocked down in the process. While the crowd was screaming for a foul, Zoey quite literally pushed the ball and her defender forward. Zoey took the space in front of her, with Quantico in it, and scored Tandem's first goal just a little more than halfway through the opening period.
 
Quantico used the kick-off to advance the ball towards Annie, who won the ball with a brilliant tackle. She pushed the ball ahead to Zoey, who worked with Sophie on the right side of the field. Sophie, on the attack, earned a corner kick. The Badgers sent the ball into the box, where Hadley got it on her foot with her back to the goal. Without turning around, she managed to fire an electric shot towards the goal. Quantico made a save, but the defense was on notice.

Quantico used their goal kick to get the ball into Tandem's zone, but Juli, as she did throughout the game, flipped the field, sending the ball ahead to the offense. Sophie showed off excellent ball control as she weaved around defenders and set up Zoey for another shot. Quantico saved it, but Tandem earned a corner on the play. Sam then set up Hadley for another big shot. Quantico ended up fouling Nieve, who used a free kick to fire the ball into the box, setting up Hattie for a shot. The pressure Quantico was facing was enormous.
 
Moments later, after an awesome save from Oliver (who played an incredible game between the pipes), Tandem was on the attack again! This time, Maeve set up Ruthie for a great shot in the middle of the field. Ruthie worked with Taylor, right up until half-time, to keep the ball on the attack. Tandem led 1-0 at the break.
 
In the second half, the Badgers played aggressively out of the gate, including Maeve winning the ball on the left side and setting up Hadley in the box. Both Hadley and Hattie got shots off, but the Badgers came up empty, and Quantico beat the defense down the field to make it 1-1.
 
There were 34 minutes still on the clock as the momentum began to shift towards the visitors. Juli and Catriona remained focused and were incredibly active in the second half, and Tandem was able to turn their defense into offense. Maeve forced a corner with 25:00 on the clock, and Nieve took advantage - firing a shot that went off the left post! The team kept the pressure on, searching for the go-ahead goal. Juli passed it ahead to Hadley who found Nieve in the middle. Nieve set up Zoey for a big swing - but Quantico made the save.
 
On the other end of the field, Quantico earned a penalty shot. The Badgers created a wall and Coach Nemanja could be heard anywhere in Central Virginia. "Go as soon as they touch the ball," he bellowed, and the Badgers did - deflecting Quantico's scoring opportunity out of bounds. Juli pushed the ball ahead to Zoey, who took a quick shot. Moments later, it was Nieve's turn, as she got some space and wound up for the go-ahead goal. Quantico made a nice save.

Frustrated and determined, Nieve watched the goalie's eyes. She punted it to the middle of the field, where Althea trapped it and sent it ahead to Nieve on the left side of the 18'. She planted her left foot, reared back with her right, and made powerful contact with the center of the ball. It did not spend much time in the air before meeting the back of the net, giving Tandem an absolutely enormous goal! What an incredibly clutch play for a 9th grade mid-fielder who has now scored in back-to-back games! Congratulations, Nieve!
 
With a 2-1 lead and the clock ticking, Zoey used a corner kick to send the ball about 6 inches to Hadley who held the ball in the corner for as long as she could. Quantico, as mentioned earlier, would have one more scoring chance, but Hadley erased it as the Badgers earned an incredibly exciting 2-1 victory on their home field!
 
Congratulations to Coaches Nemanja, Carolyn and the Badgers, now 2-1, on an exciting victory in a back and forth battle! The team defeated WCDS yesterday on the road 4-0, and today Quantico on our home field, 2-1.  The team returns to action on Monday at 4:00 at Fredericksburg Academy. 
 
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Tandem Friends School is a co-ed Quaker day school for grades 5-12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
 
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