Vikings, Eagles play to a draw (PHOTO GALLERY, VIDEO)
FORT WALTON BEACH — The Fort Walton Beach girls soccer team was a hand away from upsetting District 2-5A giant Niceville on Thursday.
The Vikings had to settle for the tie instead.
A handball in the box gave the Eagles a late penalty kick, which they converted to salvage a 2-2 tie on the road in a heated district match.
Click to view a photo gallery from the game »
Niceville (4-2-1, 1-1-1) was down 2-0 at the half, but the Eagles settled into their rhythm in the second frame and didn’t so much as allow a Fort Walton Beach (0-3-2, 0-1-1) shot on goal to help earn the comeback tie. It kept Niceville from losing its second district game of the season, which also would have been the team’s second in at least five years, according to Niceville coach Michael Denton.
“We maintained composure, continued to put the pressure on and the opportunities kept mounting,” Denton said. “We didn’t finish on some opportunities when we should have and made some silly mistakes, but we maintained focus.”
The Vikings jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 1:03 into the game when Kelsie McGrail unleashed a free kick from 20 yards out that looped into the corner of the net. They went up 2-0 just 10 minutes later when Kacie Stone made a deft cut to the inside at the edge of the penalty area and beat the keeper to the far side to take the shocking lead into the half.
It didn’t last long.
The Eagles cut into it seven minutes into the second half on the sixth of their 10 corners when Megan Fox bundled in a loose ball. It signaled a severe pressure change from the first half, as Niceville played nearly the entire final frame in Fort Walton Beach’s half of the field.
“The early goal helped us mentally get into it and the second goal was a great change of field and we were able to keep that pressure up the whole half,” Vikings coach Bill Wilkins said. “Then in the second half, we knew they were going to come out.”
The game-tying goal came with just 11 minutes left when the Vikings were called for a handball in their own box. Molly Everitt lined up to take the penalty kick and coolly deposited it past the keeper to secure the tie.
“You could see it was much more relaxed in the second half, some players playing a little more intensely, finding the seams, making the passes and controlling the ball as opposed to just throwing the ball down there,” Denton said. “I’m happy with that.”
