It was a bittersweet moment for RM’s senior players as the referee blew the whistle, signaling the end of the Quince Orchard game. As the girls embraced on the field, celebrating their narrow 2-1 victory, the seniors felt the implications of playing their last home game of the season—ever.

Captains Hannah Greco and Sonia Postolache, and the rest of the seniors, Daisy Grant, Mackenzie Harwood, Bryony Hollingsworth, and Summer Oh, were the six players competing in the regular season for the final time at the Roy Lester Stadium.

As part of the Senior Night celebration, the seniors were escorted by their families onto the field as junior and fellow teammate Chloe Shankle read out their histories from the announcer’s box.

The seniors were given flowers by their varsity teammates as they walked onto the field, with some players even adding their own special touch to the festivities: Postolache was able to convince RM’s athletic director Chamy Wijeratne to let her bring her dog out onto the field as part of her escort, and Hollingsworth strolled onto the turf with an England flag draped over her shoulders.

“I was focused on being there in the moment with my family and my dog,” said Postolache. “It was really nice of Chamy to make an exception for me to take my dog out onto the field, so that was great.”

RM kicked off the game, but lost possession soon after. The Quince Orchard Cougars broke through the Rockets’ defensive line and sent a cross into the goal box. Although Oh cleared the ball, QO gained possession again. Junior goalkeeper Judy Choi saved their resulting shot.

After a contentious five minutes, RM won a corner kick. Hollingsworth stepped up to take it, and she sent the ball towards QO’s penalty box—and into the goal. She scored directly from a corner kick, and Richard Montgomery was now up 1-0.

Then followed several attacks from the Cougars. A QO player dribbled down the wing and crossed a ball into RM’s goal box, but Choi got ahold of the ball before an oncoming Cougar could. A minute later, QO sent another cross in and had a shot on goal, but Choi grabbed it once again.

However, one of those attacks resulted in a goal. A QO player passed the ball to another player, who shot the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, tying the game up.

The next fifteen minutes had the ball going back and forth between the two teams, with neither gaining the upper hand.

And then, a Quince Orchard player sprinted into the goal box, chasing the ball, as Choi came out as well. Choi grabbed it just as the player crashed into her, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

The referee ran over and made a surprise decision: the Quince Orchard player was given a red card, and had to leave the field, relegating the Cougars to ten players. The Rockets now had an extra player advantage for the rest of the game.

Choi, unfortunately, had to leave the game. The crash with the player led to her getting a cut beneath her eye, and she had to be taken off the field. Shankle took over the goalkeeping duties for the rest of the match.

For the rest of the first half, and then much of the second half, there were no decisive plays. The teams fought for possession, but, much like before, neither had the advantage.

There was a tense moment when, in the twentieth minute, QO passed the ball into the RM goal box, where there was a player wide open. However, the player whiffed and missed the ball.

But twenty-four minutes in, RM changed that. Postolache sent a through ball to freshman Kyra Wisneski, who controlled the ball and fired a shot into the back of the net, putting RM ahead two goals to one.

RM got a corner ten minutes later. The ball sailed to Postolache, who hit a first time volley that went over the crossbar and out of bounds.

Soon after, sophomore Sue Lee crossed the ball into QO’s goal box. Greco controlled it and shot, but like Postolache’s attempt, it went over the crossbar.

Then, with one minute left, RM got their fourth corner of the match. The ball went to sophomore Delaney Goetz, who headed it—but, as was the pattern with RM’s shots, it went over the crossbar again.

But it didn’t matter in the end, because when the referee blew the final whistle, Richard Montgomery had won, 2-1.

“[The game] was really sad; it brought back so many memories of me playing at other senior nights for the rest of the seniors and I was so glad that it was my night,” said Postolache. “I’m so thankful to the underclassmen that made tonight great. They really played their hearts out for us too, and that’s the best reason that we were able to come out and beat QO.”

The final two games of the season will both be away, at Paint Branch HS on October 18, and then against Churchill on October 20. After that, the girls will begin playoffs.

Featured photo by Ayesha Khawaja.