After giving up two goals in the final 100 seconds of a season-opening loss, Republic answered three days later with a last-minute winner of its own.
Macey Mitchell scored in the final minute to give the Lady Tigers a 2-1 win over Capital City on Monday, allowing the Republic to experience the flip side of Friday’s 2-1 heartbreaker.
Andie Wistrom, who scored Republic’s first goal, had last week’s ending in mind as the time ran out on Monday’s match. “I looked at the clock and I was like, this is what happened [Friday], but now it’s our turn,” Wistrom said.
Capital City’s Mary Webb had put the Cavaliers ahead in the 13th minute, but it didn’t last long. Republic answered four minutes later in the aftermath of a corner kick. Capital City goalkeeper Ryann Flower punched the corner kick out of the box, but Avery Moore collected the loose ball about 35 yards out and fed it back into the middle. Wistrom was there to finish. She said she didn’t overthink it and didn’t even have time to get a look at Flower before taking her shot.
“We’ve been working on taking a touch and just hitting it, so I took a touch, turned and shot it best I could for the corner,” Wistrom said. “I was just aiming for the top corner hoping she wasn’t there.”
The match stayed knotted at 1-1 through halftime and deep into the second half. Capital City controlled possession early in the second half, but Republic began generating chances as the half wore on. Ava Woolley got a shot on goal around the 47th minute. Republic later got the ball past Flower twice in quick succession, but a trailing defender cleared the first and a second shot went wide.
With the clock winding down, Wistrom found Mitchell for the winner.
“In practice the other day we kind of had a goal just like that,” Mitchell said. “I kind of just sprinted as fast as I could and got a good touch on it.”
Wistrom said she never hesitated on the pass. “As soon as I heard Macey screaming as loud as she could for the ball, I knew it was going in,” she said.
Capital City nearly answered immediately, pushing the ball deep into Republic’s end in the final seconds. Goalkeeper Awbree Berning kept her team organized.
“I just told my team, just get it out, we don’t need it in the box,” Berning said. “I had almost every single person in the box trying to clear it out, and I trust them completely. They got it out, and I’m just glad they all dropped and realized our situation.”
The win evened Republic’s record at 1-1. Head coach Jesus Zuniga had challenged his team after Friday’s loss to finish matches, and the Lady Tigers delivered.
“We’ve been on both sides of it now,” Mitchell said. “Obviously there was that compassion for the other team because I know that it sucks, but at the same time it was nice to finally be the one celebrating for a change.”
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