With roughly a minute remaining in extra time, Needham’s Katie Belval scored the biggest goal of her career, as the freshman defender headed in the game winning goal Tuesday evening to help the Rockets defeat the , 2-1, as well as scoop up their third win of the season.
Yet, while Belval and her teammates celebrated this special moment, as well as the victory after the game concluded, Natick’s head coach Lisa Wilkins seemed frustrated with the referee’s decision to count the free kick as a goal.
“Unfortunately the last call was really soft on the official. It was a battle, 1-1, and I think it’s a hard call to make twenty yards out, so unfortunately in the second half, we got called off sides a lot that I didn’t think was off sides. I thought the team played well, [but] unfortunately, the officiating was poor here,” Wilkins said.
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The game-winning goal wasn’t reviewed or discussed after Belval sent the ball past Natick’s Haley Reddish, who replaced Caroline Lether between the pipes in the second half, but again, it certainly seemed that Wilkins believed Needham’s second goal shouldn’t have counted.
“That’s a tough loss, especially since I thought the call was awful,” Wilkins said. “That was a close game and I thought the ref made a bad call.”
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Natick and Needham each traded a couple of shots during the opening minutes and it wasn’t until late in the first half when the Rockets found the back of the net for their first score of the contest, which came off the foot of sophomore Clara Nowlan. Yet, the Rockets lead didn’t last long, as junior Taylor Flutie scored during the final minutes of the first half for the Red and Blue.
“[In the] first half, I thought we did a nice job carrying the play and possessed the ball. We got a quality goal [and] I was hoping we’d end the half [with the lead, but] they got the goal with a minute left,” Needham’s head coach Carl Tarabelli said.
In the second half, both squads moved the ball up and down the field, but no one gained any momentum until the final few minutes, which was when the Rockets attempted a few corner kicks and outside crosses, which failed. Yet, Kayla Steeves managed to set up the game-winner, as she connected with Belval in the box, who headed in the clincher.
After the game, Tarabelli spoke about the final few minutes, as well as noted that Natick’s Lexi Gifford was a major reason the Red and Blue kept Needham in check for a majority of the second half.
“There defender, Lexi Gifford, two-heads off the line, those are brilliant. She’s a quality player,” Tarabelli said. “She is a college defender. She could play at a lot of schools and it could easily have been three-four to one with those corner kicks she saved off the line.”
The Natick girls will compete against on Thursday at 3:45 p.m. in Dedham.
