An epic game unfolded out at Midway High School Monday night when the Raiders hosted Wake Prep Academy in the third round of the state NCHSAA 3A soccer playoffs. What had been a low-scoring battle quickly turned into a shootout and required multiple overtime sessions before finally being resolved in PKs. When all of the ruckus was done, the Guardians rallied from behind to claim a 5-4 victory, eliminating Midway.
Most of the first half was a well-balanced battle, which was fairly defensive in nature. Both teams appreciated tremendous performances from their goalkeepers, who each had occasional shots on goal they had to defend. The action constantly changed ends of the field with two evenly-matched teams giving everything they had.
At long last, it was the Raiders who got on the board first late in the first half. Midway had worked itself deep into Wake Prep’s zone and fired another shot, which was only knocked down by the goalkeeper. Lenny Olivera was in the right place at the right time to collect the rebound and send it back in for a 1-0 lead with 9:22 left in the half. From there, Wake Prep nearly answered on a shot that banked off the left post, but the shot missed, and the score remained 1-0 at the half.
The second half saw this same trend of the game continue: a back-and-forth battle that saw equal opportunities for both teams. Neither school had really claimed an advantage outside of the 1-0 lead that Midway clung to. That changed with 20:32 left in regulation, though, as the Raiders added an insurance goal off the foot of Max Florido, now making the score 2-0.
For the next several minutes, Midway spent a lot of time dodging bullets and clearing the ball out of their defensive zone, narrowly avoiding surrendering any major looks for Wake Prep. The Raiders had lost their offensive edge and were forced to spend more time defending their own goal. That, coupled with the Guardians’ desperation, was the recipe for disaster. The visitors finally got on the board at the 13:55 mark when a header made its way past Midway goalkeeper Brenner Boswell, putting the score at 2-1.
From there, Wake Prep only cranked up their intensity even more, feeling more confident than ever that they could find the equalizer.
Indeed, with 8:47 remaining, another goal from right out front of the net tied things up at 2 as the game had completely taken a turn.
There was no more scoring in the final minutes of regulation, and the game transitioned into two 10-minute overtime sessions.
There, the teams traded a pair of scores with the Guardians scoring first to tip 3-2. Olivera, though, countered for Midway to knot the game at 3, and that’s how the first OT session ended.
In the second session, another goal by Olivera put the Raiders back out front at 4-3. Unfortunately for the home team, Wake Prep again found some heroics and tied the game. The clock ran out again, and, with the two overtime sessions concluded, the game went to sudden death, tied at 4-all.
There were no scores in sudden death, so with that, the game went as far as it could, as it came down to PKs. The teams went goal for goal, and the score was still tied up after the first five shots. Now in extra kicks, the Guardians converted their first kick, but the Raiders were finally stopped on their attempt, which cemented Wake Prep’s dramatic 5-4 victory.
While there was disappointment for Midway in how their season dramatically concluded, the Raiders enjoyed much success this season as they narrowly missed out on the fourth round — this being their deepest playoff run in quite some time.
The Midway team finished their season 15-7-1.