How Asheville girls soccer stunned rival T.C. Roberson to advance to the third round
Asheville High midfielder Gracie Smith lined up a shot as the ball rolled to her with just under a minute left in the fourth overtime period with the score still scoreless. She booted a shot with her right foot.
The shot deflected off a T.C. Roberson defender's ankle. The ball then rolled to the left side of the box to forward Lily Foo. With her back to the goal, she stopped the ball and took one dribble to her right and fired a shot off her right foot.
Goal. Foo jumped once after scoring then turned around to embrace an onslaught of her teammates sprinting over to celebrate her golden goal. Foo’s goal in the 109th minute sent the No. 4 Cougars to the third round of the 4A NCHSAA playoffs and sealed a 1-0 victory over No. 13 Roberson (14-6-1) on Thursday. Asheville (21-1-1) will host No. 12 Northwest Guilford (16-2-1) on Monday.
“It was on my right foot, which is not my dominant foot,” Foo said about her game-winning goal. “And honestly I just shot it. I wasn’t thinking. I was like ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that just happened.’ ”
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She said she knew that she had to capitalize on the opportunity when the ball rolled to her.
“I saw it,” Foo said. “It was free. There were no defenders on it. And I was like, ‘This is the moment right here. If I don’t score it now, it’s not gonna happen.’ ”
Foo said her mind went blank after the goal. The next thing she said she remembered was hearing everyone screaming. She said that was when it dawned on her that she scored the game-winning goal to help Asheville advance.
Smith said she knew Foo was going to score even before she fired the shot.
“When she got it, I was like, “Oh, this is a goal. This is a goal. I knew it was gonna be a goal. I just knew it. So I already started running up right before she hit it.”
Coach Mike Flowe has been around the Roberson and Asheville rivalry for 30 years. He said this is the most intense game that they’ve played in the last 20 years.
He said he was proud of how his team fought through the fatigue of playing over 100 minutes of soccer.
“In those situations, you don’t want to be the team that cracks,” Flowe said. “You’re just trying to mentally stay tough. If it’s not pretty, it’s not pretty. Just keep grinding and believe in yourself and they did it.”
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: How Asheville girls soccer beat T.C. Roberson to advance to 3rd round
