The host Madison Warhawks and Oakton Cougars played a back-and-forth tight game from start to finish in the championship match of the 6D North Region girls soccer tournament.
Madison won, 3-2, in sudden-death overtime, which was the third OT period of the high-school match. The score was tied at 2 after regulation.
The winning goal was netted by Daphne Van Der Weide on a rebounded ball that bounced off the Oakton goalie following a corner kick.
The Warhawks (15-2-1) were 3-0 in the region tourney, defeating McLean, 5-2, in the first round then Chantilly, 2-1, in the semifinals.
The win in the region final was the sixth victory in a row overall for Madison, which earlier won the Concorde District tournament. Madison lost to Oakton by the same 3-2 score in a regular-season match, which was the team’s last setback.
Oakton fell to 13-4-1 with the loss, having defeated Washington-Liberty, 2-0, in the region semifinals and Yorktown, 2-1, in the first round.
“We’re a team,” Madison coach Zahir Hassan said. “We’ve been through these situations several times, but every game, we go for the win. Regardless of what the score is, we always go for the win, and that’s what we did from the beginning. That’s what we did today, that’s always what we expect to do. It’s a team mentality. We don’t give up to the last minute.”
Keira McCloskey scored Madison’s first goal on a shot from outside the 18-yard goalie box. Avery Bracher scored two breakaway goals for Oakton.
Each goalie, Erinn Lockard of Madison and Anjali Ramchandran of Oakton, made good saves and were assertive against breakaways.
In the district tournament, Madison was 2-0 with wins over Westfield, 6-2, and Chantilly, 8-1, in the championship match.
Both teams advance to the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tournament, and could meet again if each reach the championship match on June 8 in the Richmond area.
First-round matches are scheduled for June 4, with the semifinals scheduled for Friday, June 7 at Deep Run High School, with 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. starting times.
NOTE: Madison’s other loss came in the second game of the regular season when the Warhawks fell to the visiting Marshall Statesmen, 3-1, in a non-district match. They later tied Chantilly, 2-2, in a league contest.
