FARMVILLE – Playing in only their fifth game as a program, the Cumberland High School girls soccer team thought they had reached a milestone following an 80 minute regulation contest that had produced a 3-3 tie against Prince Edward County High School last Thursday at the PECHS Soccer Complex.

Though it was not a district contest, which sometimes end in draws with no overtime, game officials called for two five-minute overtime periods to be played.

The more experienced PECHS girls program, which has a good ten year start on their upstart counterparts, though very young as well, came through just before the end of the first overtime period on a goal by Jenna Bisallion that skidded across the ground from about ten yards out and under the reach of CHS sophomore goalie Claire Drummond.

“Yeah, we thought we had a tie for a minute,” said Cumberland head coach Colleen Herndon. “Still, knowing where we started from, this is our best game so far, and to take an established program like Prince Edward to overtime is better than I can ask for, right now. I am proud of what we did today, and very proud of what we did in the second half. We looked like an entirely different team.”

“We did some different things today,” said PECHS first-year head coach Calin Lupas. “Cumberland did a great job, and they showed a lot of improvement from our first meeing [won by PE 6-1]. We're pretty young this year, and I saw some things I was happy to see. We play a little anxious at times, but we're continuing to improve, and it's a win.”

Prince Edward scored just five minutes into the contest, but Cumberland tied the contest in the 12th minute on a goal by Danielle Dowdy. PE senior Amie Dews put the Eagles back in front in the 36th minute on a shot from 15-yards out to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

Dews scored again in the 50th minute to give PE a 3-1 lead, before Cumberland senior Quinn Duty tied the match with a pair of second half goals. Her first, in the 60th minute hit the crossbar, dropped straight down, and cleared the goal line just enough to be counted. Her game-tying goal came in the 77th minute. PE peppered the Cumberland goal over the final three minutes of the match, and into substitution time, but Drummond came away with several saves.

“I was really proud of Claire's performance today,” said Herndon. “She had a rough outing last time out, but responded today. That's the best I've seen her play, and she was a big reason we were able to force overtime.”

Prince Edward, which only returns four main players from last year's Southside District championship team, is still feeling its way along, but Lupas is pleased with the team's progress so far.

“This is a great group of girls, but they have a lot to learn, and a lot of pressure is on our senior captains, right now, but I'm happy with our progress to date. We're building right now, breaking in a new goalie with [Taylor] Reinson now playing midfield, but [Samantha Gubash] is improving a lot. They've come a long way in the month we've been together.”

Prince Edward was scheduled to play at Appomattox on Tuesday, April 9, and Cumberland was scheduled to host Goochland on Monday, April 8.

“I just want us to play Goochland the same way we played the second half here. That will be our goal for that game.”