The Olentangy and Olentangy Liberty girls soccer teams can sympathize with each other.
After rival Olentangy Orange scored a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes to knock off Liberty earlier this season, the Pioneers did it again Tuesday night to clinch the OCC-Buckeye crown outright.
The Pioneers used a pair of set-piece goals in the final 10 minutes in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Olentangy.
“Just beating teams like Liberty and Olentangy that we’ve been trying to beat since freshman year,” Senior Camila Hall said. “Just pulling it out at the very end is always a great feeling.”
Hall found Cassidy Ryan on the backside, who touched in the tying goal for Orange (7-5-1, 4-0) with 8:45 remaining.
Then, from the other corner, Hall found Grace Poorbaugh in the middle, who pushed passed the go-ahead score with 6:21 left.
“I usually look for Cassidy Ryan or Grace Poorbaugh because they’re really good in the air,” Hall said.
“I felt pretty comfortable most of the game,” Pioneers coach Tim Lawrence said. “We were stuck in their end most of the game. It was bound to come. We waited late in the Liberty game too. It was a good effort.”
Both teams struck quickly. Olentangy grabbed the early lead with 37:59 left in the half on a Kayla Primm rebound and put back off a Maddy Loris shot.
Natalie Hegg started the scoring chance by perfectly placing a free kick off the cross bar from about the 40-yard line.
Orange knotted it up in fairly short order. Delaney Earl, after being fouled in the box, converted the ensuing penalty kick to tie it 1-1 with 30:55 left in the opening frame.
Morgan Endsley corralled a pinball off a Hegg corner kick and put it in net to give Olentangy (8-3-3, 1-1-2) a 2-1 lead with 4:53 left in the half.
“Orange is obviously one of the rivalry teams,” Olentangy coach Earl Devanny said. “We wanted to play well, especially the seniors, and we weren’t able to do that.”
Both teams are out of league next. Orange hosts Thomas Worthington Thursday night at 7:15 p.m. and Olentangy visits Big Walnut Saturday at noon.
