Goshen, IN — For just having witnessed the most exciting finish of the season and perhaps the most exhilarating end to a match in the 15-year history of the Goshen College women’s soccer program, Goshen head coach Thavisith Mounsithiraj was not overly impressed.

Goshen (2-10-1, 0-4) needed almost every second of regulation soccer and two overtimes to knock off visiting Rochester College by a 2-1 score Thursday night at the Goshen College Soccer Complex, adding the final, sudden-death goal with just 14 seconds remaining in the second overtime frame. Still, that pulse-stopping finish wasn’t enough to overshadow a shoddily played game by the Leafs according to Mounsithiraj.

“This was certainly one of the more exciting finishes we’ve had, but we were pretty sloppy for the entire match tonight,” Mounsithiraj said. “We set back and never quite played with a sense of urgency, letting Rochester dictate the game. We were a totally different team tonight. We did not play nearly as well as we did on Tuesday (in a 2-0 loss to Indiana Wesleyan University, click here for recap), and we were fortunate to win.”

It didn’t appear that the Leafs were anywhere close to a win with just under 30 seconds remaining in the second overtime, as Rochester had the ball in Goshen’s defensive third of the field and was taking a throw-in looking for a final, last-ditch attempt to erase the 1-1 tie.

After junior defender Hannah Eash headed out a forward push from the Warriors, Rochester again tried to send the ball into the middle of the field. Sophomore Claire Lagerwey was able to steal the ball and send it back upfield to classmate Sara Groff, who wheeled and had nothing but open field ahead.

As the clock ticked down toward zeroes, Groff calmly four-touched the dribble into Rochester territory, sending a beautiful through ball to sophomore Lucy Roth just outside the Warrior 18-yard box. Roth was able to stop Groff’s pass on a dime, turn and head to her left, spinning away from her Warrior defender in the process. With another defender back and the goalkeeper waiting, Roth placed an exquisite ball off the inside of her left foot, pushing it just past the Warrior keeper on the ground in the right corner of the goal.

Roth was taken down from behind the moment the shot left her foot, and she held her head up to see the result:

It trickled into the net, with all but 14 seconds remaining on the scoreboard.

As Roth picked herself up, she was mobbed by her teammates, as the squad corralled its second win of the season in the most euphoric manner possible.

“I thought Lucy did an excellent job finishing on a quality through ball from Sara Groff after Claire Lagerwey won a 50-50 ball,” Mounsithiraj said. “She essentially took on four people and scored.”

Early on in the game, it appeared that the Leafs would never be in a situation to need such heroics. Dominating possession throughout, Goshen got on the board first in the 38th minute, when senior Tara Plank rocketed a shot that caromed off the crossbar and landed in the vicinity of sophomore Jodi Birkey. Birkey quickly blasted the ball into the back of the Warrior net for a 1-0 lead, setting the tone for the remainder of the first half.

Goshen appeared to be in control for the majority of the second period as well, but Rochester began getting more and more possessions in the Leafs’ defensive area. A chaotic sequence gave the Warriors the equalizer score in the match’s 70th minute, when the Leafs failed to clear a ball out of danger. Rochester’s Kim Gannon was able to find a seam in the Leaf defense, tying the score and changing the complex of the game entirely.

Not much changed for the remainder of the match and the majority of two overtimes, as the teams traded possession and looks without much fanfare. It wasn’t until the somewhat surprising Groff breakaway at the literal last second that Mounsithiraj’s team got its best look on the Warrior goal, capitalizing at the most needed time.

“Rochester’s speed up front gave us some difficulty, but we still could have and should have played much better this evening,” Mounsithiraj said. “We will continue to work through our injuries and have a day of rest before we come back to conference play. We’ll need a much better effort than we had tonight.”

The win was especially nice for Plank and classmate Molly Kauffman, as the duo was honored at halftime with senior night festivities, as the match marked the final home event of the season. With the 2-1 edge, Goshen ran its streak of senior-night wins to three in a row.

The team will now hit the road for its final four matches of the regular season, all of which being Mid-Central Conference tilts. Goshen will travel to the University of St. Francis Saturday for its next match. Game time is set for 1 p.m.