Woodbridge Beats Hylton in Marathon Soccer Matchup

Four overtimes weren’t enough to settle the difference between the Hylton Lady Bulldogs and the in the Cardinal District Girls’ Soccer Semifinal on Tuesday night. Woodbridge outlasted Hylton to win on penalty kicks, 7-6.

Hylton struck first, scoring in the first half to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Carmen Suarez scored the goal after taking a cross from junior Torii Johnson.

The Lady Bulldogs held onto that lead until a broken defensive play evened the score with about 20 minutes left to play in the game. Woodbridge was aggressively pressing the ball into the Hylton end of the field, and though Hylton blocked several shots and cleared the ball out of their end several times, Woodbridge kept coming back.

Hylton goalkeeper Dani Nonaka blocked a shot that ricocheted off of a defender and rolled slowly across the line into the net as Hylton defender Jaree Barnwell tried to chase it down.

The score stayed tied at one through the end of regulation, and neither team was able to score in four straight overtime periods, so the game went to a penalty kick shootout.

Each team converted their first five consecutive penalty kicks, but Hylton’s sixth kick bounced off the crossbar. Woodbridge’s next shot went perfectly into the corner of the net to break the tie and end the game.

Woodbridge will play Forest Park on Thursday in the Cardinal District Final, to be played at Hylton. Both teams will then advance to the Northwest regional tournament.