BEAR – Archmere’s girls soccer team made a 1-0 lead hold up for 70-plus minutes against Caravel on May 28 in a DIAA Division II girls quarterfinal, but the Auks certainly earned the upset. They fought off the hard-charging Buccaneers repeatedly in the second half and move on to the semifinal round as their Cinderella run continues.
Archmere, the 10th seed in the 12-team Division II field, beat the seventh seed, Newark Charter, in the first round. To advance, they had to knock off the second-seeded Buccaneers, who are also the defending state champions and who had defeated Archmere, 4-0, on April 17. The Auks gave new meaning to the term “bend, but don’t break” to get the win.
After a slow start for both teams, the Auks found their footing on offense and put the heat on the Bucs. In the ninth minute, Audrey Curtis came up with an interception near midfield and started the counter. She sent a through ball up the middle to Allison Perpiglia (St. Clare of Assisi Parish, Swedesboro, N.J.), who fired a shot high past Caravel’s keeper, Taylor Fitzgerald.
The teams traded momentum throughout the remainder of the first half. Auks goalkeeper Lucy Fiacco (St. Clare of Assisi Parish, Swedesboro, N.J.) stopped a Caravel shot in the 17th, but the ball bounced away from her until she was able to cover it up. Archmere nearly doubled its lead midway through the half after a ball smacked off the hip of Uchechi Ikeocha and hit the post next to Fitzgerald. Fiacco made a great sliding save one-on-one with a Buccaneer later in the half.
Fiacco took a foot to the face late in the first and had to leave the field for some repairs. Her backup, Olivia Borsello, stopped the only shot she faced.
Over the course of the second half, Caravel made sure that the Auks were going to earn their victory.
The Bucs had several opportunities to equalize. In the opening minutes of the half, one free kick went wide right, and another smashed into the defensive wall in front of Fiacco. The Auks rebuffed the Buccaneers on a bunch of corner kicks, and Caravel sent one shot off the post to the keeper’s right.
The Auks had a chance to get a second goal in the 68th minute, but Megan Fiss whistled a shot just left of the net. After that, it was back to defense for the Auks, with the clock seeming to take an excruciatingly long time to count down from their perspective.
A Caravel shot in the 70th minute just missed wide, and a follow-up shot hit off an Auks’ head and the crossbar before Fiacco could cover it up. Two minutes later, a free kick was just high, and Fiacco stopped a header in the 73rd. After a few more stops by Fiacco in the closing minutes, the Bucs had one more chance in stoppage time. An offering from Caravel hit Fiacco and rolled over the end line, giving Caravel one more corner kick. After some tense seconds, the Auks cleared the ball, and shortly after that the whistle blew to end the game.
Game statistics were not available late Thursday night. Archmere improved to 9-6-1 and will face No. 2 Saint Mark’s on June 3 at a location and time to be announced. The Spartans took a 2-0 win over the Auks on April 27.
Caravel finished the season 9-3-3.
In another quarterfinal played on Thursday, No. 5 Wilmington Friends jumped all over No. 4 Ursuline early, then held on for a 5-4 victory at Serviam Field. Katharine Weigand got the Quakers started in the third minute with a counter that she sent into the upper right corner. Friends earned back-to-back corner kicks in the fifth minute, and Weigand struck again. This time, she snagged a rebound outside the 18-yard box and drilled it into the net for the 2-0 lead.
A tremendous save by Raiders keeper Charlotte Horsman temporarily slowed the Quakers, but a penalty was called in the box on the play, and Sofia Dattani calmly converted the penalty kick to up the lead to 3-0 just eight minutes in. Friends added a goal later in the half for a commanding advantage.
Zoe Carberry got the Raiders on the board early in the second, but Weigand completed her hat trick to restore the four-goal margin with about 25 minutes remaining. Grace Ryan answered a few minutes later, and the Raiders scored twice in the final five minutes to make it very interesting.
Wilmington Friends improved to 14-2-1 and will meet Independent Conference rival Sanford, the ninth seed, in the second semifinal. Sanford advanced after defeating No. 1 Indian River on Thursday.
Ursuline finished 11-4-1.
Photos by Mike Lang.
