By Rusty Ellis
The Livingston Academy Lady Cats saw their season come to an end on Wednesday, as they fell to the defending Class AA Champions Page 1-0 in the state quarterfinals.
Despite a scoreless first half, Livingston held off several chances in front of the net to keep the game tied heading into the halftime break.
The second half saw more of the same, though Livingston was able to put together a little more offense on their end of the field to give some relief to the defense. The scoreless tie was broken at the 74:22 mark of the contest, as Page earned a free kick off of a penalty just outside the box. The kick bounced off of keeper Emma Dulworth and the ensuing rebound was put into the back of the net by the Lady Patriots to give them a 1-0 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the game.
That was how the match would end, as LA could not muster any offense against the Lady Patriot defense in a 1-0 defeat in the Class AA State Tournament. Livingston managed just one shot on goal in 80 minutes.
Despite the loss, head coach David Sadler was pleased as a whole with how his team battled the defending champions.
“You hold the defending state champs to just one goal over 80 minutes, that’s nothing to hang your head about,” Sadler said. “We had a couple injuries and we had to put a couple girls in different spots, and as a goalie, you can’t stop them all…we can’t complain about the effort.”
It was another standout performance by Dulworth, as she stopped shot after shot for the majority of the match. Even with a loss, Sadler had nothing but positives to say about his senior keeper.
“She was ready for this game on this stage,” Sadler said. “We just got jumbled up and had a miscommunication in front of the net, and they just happened to get one in on her.”
The loss sees the end of the LA careers for Sadler’s first freshman class at Livingston, a group he knows he’ll have a tough time replacing come next season.
“They were freshmen when I started, and they just mean so much to me,” Sadler said. “They’ve been leaders on this team, they’re leaders in the school and they’ll leave some pretty big shoes to fill by these players next year.”
Livingston closes the season with a 19-2 overall record.
