Despite not leading at all during regulation, the Fort Mill Lady Jackets lacrosse team won in four overtimes to advance to the Upper State finals.
Fort Mill beat the Byrnes Rebels 14-13 on Grace Sandler’s fifth goal of the game coming in the fourth three-minute extra period.
“She is amazing,” said Fort Mill head coach Kirsten Terry. “She is a workhorse.”
Byrnes controlled possession for most of the overtime periods, but the Jackets came up with the one shot when they needed it. Terry took a timeout before the final goal to coach her team up.
“I told them it was now or never,” she said.
The Jackets only tied Byrnes twice the entire game and never led until the winning goal. Fort Mill will now host JL Mann Monday, April 22 at Bob Jones Stadium in the 5A Upper State finals.
Fort Mill had their hands full from the opening whistle as Byrnes won the first two face-offs and scored both times within the first 66 seconds.
The Jackets got one back as CeCe Shia scored for Fort Mill getting them on the board two and a half minutes into the game.
Fort Mill struggled early on winning the face-off battle leading to the Rebels getting the ball, where they were patient in setting up their offense.
The Jackets called a timeout to regroup, but lost the next face-off as Byrnes would score to make it 6-1 with 2:20 left in the first quarter. Fort Mill got a turnover and was able to take it the length of the field as Shia scored her second goal with about a minute left in the quarter.
The Jackets rallied with a fury in the second quarter as both Sandler and Shia would score to close the gap to 6-4 with about nine minutes left in the first half.
Byrnes seemed to find another gear and again started winning possession more often which led to three consecutive goals. Both teams would trade scores before halftime as Sandler got her second goal sending the Jackets into the locker room down 10-6.
Scoring slowed to open the second half as Fort Mill continued to chip away with Shia scoring her fourth goal of the game with 7:15 left in the third quarter. Shia came back with another goal less than a minute later to force Byrnes into a timeout as the Jackets continued to close the gap.
Taylor Wilcox would score her second goal of the game for Fort Mill making it three in a row for the Jackets as they pulled within one at 4:15 left in the third quarter.
Both teams traded goals before the end of the quarter as Shia scored her sixth for the Jackets and the Rebels clung to a 11-10 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Byrnes would score 41 seconds into the fourth quarter as Fort Mill again struggled with holding onto possession. The Rebels then started to milk the clock to try and wear down Fort Mill.
Sandler would score back-to-back goals to tie the game at 12 with 2:23 remaining. It would be the first tie of the game and Sandler’s third and fourth goals of the game.
Byrnes would go ahead with less than 90 seconds left, but the Jackets’ Molly Bennett would come back and score with 17.9 seconds left to tie it at 13 and send it into overtime.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
