Knocking off a rival? Check. Doing so in overtime? Check. Spoiling said rival’s perfect season? Check. The trifecta was accomplished Monday for the Washington girls’ soccer team when the home Demons beat Mount Pleasant 4-3 in celebratory fashion.

When these two teams met in April it was the Panthers (8-1) that won in overtime and in Monday’s first half it looked like they were well on their way to a season sweep by leading 2-0 at the break. The Demons went to work with back-to-back goals by seniors Trina Griffin and Yulisma Torres to tie it up at 2-2. Mount Pleasant retook the lead with 18 minutes left in the contest only to have Griffin pick up her 20th goal of the season a few minutes later. A couple key saves by goalkeeper Alex Murphy helped send the game to overtime. Three minutes into the extra period, junior Greta Rothe sent the Demon crowd into a frenzy when she dribbled around a few defenders and had a 30-yard bomb that floated through the air and found the left corner of the net for the golden goal. 

An elated head coach Steven Caulk tells KCII Sports time stopped in that moment. “Time stopped repeatedly in this game and I definitely aged a few years in this one. We tell our girls to take shots and try to condition them to take opportunities. Credit our team for battling back. We were in possession in the second half and made good connections out to our wings. In the end we fought harder in the second half.”

Washington improves to 6-4 overall and concludes the conference season at 4-4. They return home Thursday against Iowa City Liberty (7-4). The previously undefeated Panthers drop to 8-1.