Sussex Academy girl’s soccer falls to Newark Charter in quarterfinal OT thriller

GEORGETOWN, Del. – Sussex Academy girl’s soccer fell to the Newark Charter School Patriots 3-2 in overtime on Thursday evening in a DIAA Division II Quarterfinal match in Georgetown.

The Patriots took an early lead when Natasha Slijepcevic scored on a header just 3 minutes into the game.

The score remained 1-0 into the second half, when the match was halted by a 30 minute delay for lightning and thunder with about 28 minutes remaining.

Once play resumed, it was Sussex Academy’s Patricia Lara Nieto who found the equalizer with 18 minutes remaining in the game.

Newark Charter responded instantly, with Slijepcevic netting her second goal of the day just 20 seconds later.

On the Seahawks’ last gasp with under 2 minutes to play, a free kick from Maya Hastings found the head of Debora Williams in the box. The ball bounced loose toward the goal line, and the ensuing scrum of Seahawks and Patriots ended with it in the back of the net.

The quarterfinal match headed to overtime with the score at 2-2.

In the extra period, it was a strike from Newark Charter’s Alanna Rhodes, from just inside 18 yards, that lofted over the hands of keeper Ella Sprucebank and ended the game 3-2 in the Patriots’ favor.

Newark Charter School advances to the DIAA Semifinals where they will play St. Mark’s on Wednesday, May 28.