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Lewisburg girls upset Montoursville 2-1 in double overtime to advance to District 4 final

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

MILTON — Once she was down inside the 18-yard box, Lewisburg’s Mikayla Long was hoping something was going to develop. Time was ticking down and the last thing Long — or any of her teammates for that matter — wanted was a shootout against Montoursville.

That’s when Sophie Kilbride got the ball and quickly fed a pass to Long. The Green Dragon didn’t waste much time and knew she had to just get a shot on frame.

Not only did she do that, she found the back of the net. Long fired a shot toward the far right post to put in a goal and stun undefeated Montoursville (19-1) in double overtime, 2-1, for the District 4 Class AA semifinal victory on Monday night at Milton’s Alumni Stadium.

It didn’t take long for Long’s teammates to quickly engulf her near the 18 and celebrate.

“I just looked at it, I knew I had to get it on frame. I knew I had to shoot it. There wasn’t much time left and I really did not want to get into PKs. I just knew I had to hit it in, hit it on frame somewhere and it went in,” Long said. “It was crazy. At first I did not believe it. I was like there’s ‘no way I just did this, there’s no way we did this as a team.’ I was so excited. We’re going into district final now and going into states now and that’s what we wanted since very beginning of the season. We accomplished that and worked hard this season. I feel like we deserve it.”

Long and Lewisburg are headed to the District 4 championship game for the first time since 2019 when the Dragons fell to Central Columbia in the championship game. And undefeated Central Columbia (20-0) is who the Dragons (13-6) will face for the title again.

“It just feels amazing because last time we were in states was my freshman year and we wanted to go to states every year since, but it obviously hasn’t fallen right for us,” Long said. “To be going to states my senior year obviously means a lot knowing the whole team is coming together to get us into states and we’re working together to make it.”

Long’s game-winner was the only shot on goal through the second overtime period when it came with 8 minutes, 36 seconds to play. It also was just the second shot on goal after regulation — both coming from Lewisburg.

Long had both of Lewisburg’s goals. Her first game with 8:11 to play in the first half when she got just inside the 18 and fired a shot toward the middle of the goal that slipped through Montoursville’s goalies hands and managed to roll in for a goal.

“She’s something special. She’s a big piece of our puzzle. She’s a fantastic player. She’s a big of the puzzle,” Lewisburg coach Terry Gerlinski said, who earned his 50th career win as a coach.

Lewisburg would hold a 1-0 lead into the half, but Montoursville came out aggressive to start the second half and scored just over three minutes in the second half. Lydia Earnest got just outside of the 6-yard box and turned, rifling a shot to the far left post to tie the game up, 1-1.

“I told the girls just the same thing we always do: for them to really play with energy and play with passion and go after every ball and you saw at end there, we didn’t step to a ball, let it hit the ground and that caused a goal,” Montoursville coach Vic Gorini said. “You can’t let any ball go by you in districts. District 4 is tough and their records don’t matter. We knew this would be a really close game and a tough game and that’s what we saw.”

Lewisburg and Montoursville played in the regular season in which the Warriors won an exciting contest in which Montoursville won, 2-1, in double overtime. So it’s no surprise the two played into double overtime yet again on Monday night.

“I feel like we were like ‘OK we need to get this now. We need to keep going. If we get this, we’re set,'” Long said of their mindset following Montoursville’s game-tying goal.

The two teams both had chances throughout the end of the second half to put in a goal, but neither were able to get one to go in.

With 14:20 to play, Montoursville’s Bryn Jacopetti had a direct kick from 23 yards out and fired a high shot to the left that curved, and just narrowly missed from going in to the top 90, instead hitting off the crossbar.

Both teams played well in limiting the opposing forwards from getting easy looks. Montoursville had five total shots in the second half, only two of which came from inside the 18. Lewisburg had just two shots from inside the 18 in the second half as well.

Defensively, neither team allowed their opposition to get great, open looks. Both teams had to work for any shot they fired.

“Our defense, they’re amazing. I love them so much. They’re really solid, they know when to step, when not to step,” Long said. “They just know how to play and they’re perfect. I love them.”

Jacopetti nearly put in a goal with 5:11 to play in overtime to win it when she fired a shot from 20 yards out. Jacopetti’s attempt toward the left post went just wide by roughly a foot. Lewisburg fired two shots in the final three minutes, but one went high that Montoursville’s goalkeeper caught and the other went wide.

“This loss hurts and our heart goes out to our seniors who don’t get another chance to come bac next year. It’s been a good season. We’re not happy about the outcome here,” Gorini said. “We felt like we had many opportunities to win this game and it just didn’t happen for us. We struggled offensively our last couple of games. Unfortunately you need to play your best in districts and we’ve struggled our most since districts has started.”

Both Montoursville and Lewisburg were playing in their second consecutive overtime contest in districts. The Green Dragons edged a solid Bloomsburg team in the quarterfinals last week and Montoursville beat a tough Milton team in a shootout, 4-2.

“We always know that (Lewisburg will be tough). It’s districts. District 4 girls soccer is solid and there’s no easy night,” Gorini said.

Lewisburg 2, Montoursville 1 (2 OT)

L-Mikayla Long, 8:11. M-Lydia Earnest, 36:48. L-Long (Sophie Kilbride), 8:36.

Shots: L 6, M 5. Corners: L 2, M 5. Saves: L 3 (Izzy Wood), M 4 (Kierstyn Dawes, Anna Baylor).

Records: Lewisburg (13-6), Montoursville (19-1). Next game: Lewisburg vs. Central Columbia, District 4 Class AA championship game, TBA.

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