Sep 4, 2014 By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

WAYNESBURG — The Waynesburg Central girls’ soccer team never trailed Elizabeth-Forward in regulation or the first overtime, but with five seconds left in the second overtime, E-F’s Rachel Bakewell broke away from the defense and collected the game-winner in a 4-3 victory Wednesday night in the Section 4-AA opener.

Bakewell, who was the offensive catalyst for the Lady Warriors (1-1-1, 1-0), found open space in the attacking zone and got behind the Waynesburg’s goalkeeper for the heartbreaking goal in the final seconds of the second extra period.

“This one stings a lot,” Waynesburg coach Joe Kijowski said. “We did a lot of great things tonight and we will take a lot of positives out of this one, but it’s very disappointed to lose in the final seconds of the second overtime. I told the kids not to hang their heads, but it’s a very tough loss. I thought tonight was our night, but that last bounce didn’t go our way.”

E-F, who won 11 games last year and made it to the playoffs, was on the ropes much of the contest, as Waynesburg controlled much of the play.

“This is a huge step for us,” E-F coach Brandon Gerba said. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year and so far this season our chemistry has been hurting. We rallied around each other and answered the test tonight. Rachel was around the ball the whole night, so it was fitting that she got the game-winner for us.”

Waynesburg’s freshmen Madison Clayton recorded the hat trick in the loss and was the sparkplug for the Lady Raiders’ offense that only saw one goal scored in its first two games.

The Lady Raiders (0-2-1, 0-1) got on the scoreboard at the 14:35 mark of the first half when Clayton found a loose ball in front of the net and collected the marker.

Josey Evans made the stop of the game with 7:20 before halftime when she stymied a breakaway scoring chance from Bakewell. The Lady Raiders held a 1-0 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Lady Warriors tallied the first four shots of the half, including a rebound goal by Chelsey Marcase at 36:59 to knot things up at 1-1. The goal was assisted by Bakewell.

Four minutes later, the Lady Raiders and Clayton responded when the freshman corralled a loose ball and put it in the back of the net to give Waynesburg a 2-1 edge.

“Madison is a gamer,” Kijowski said. “Her work ethnic is outstanding and she loves this game. She is very passionate about the sport and puts in a lot of work. She has that scoring knack and is always in the right spot to get goals. She definitely doesn’t play like a freshman.”

Once again E-F rallied back with an equalizer at the 20:08 mark of the second half by Liz Biddle to knot things up at 2-2.

Clayton garnered the hat trick at the 10:24 mark of the second after a nice pass from Lily Behm to make it 3-2, but five minutes later E-F had an answer with a pop-up kick from 25 yards out by Biddle that found the back of the net.

Evans finished the game with 11 saves for Waynesburg in between the pipes, while E-F’s Destiny Habeck was in net for the visitors and recorded four stops.