Auburn Smith heard the unmistakable sound of a well-struck ball and knew that her shot had a fighting chance.
Her bending cross from the left side defied gravity and bent back enough to find the top right corner of the net and give Community Christian School its first ever state championship appearance.
Smith's goal with three minutes remaining in the first 10-minute overtime period lifted the No. 8 seeded Lady Cyclones to a 2-1 victory against fourth-seeded Gaston Day in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A girls soccer semifinals at Gillette Athletic Complex Friday afternoon.
Community Christian will face No. 3 seed Faith Christian of Rocky Mount in the championship today at 4 p.m., also played at Gillette.
Smith was just trying to create a scoring chance but got more than she bargained for in the extra session.
"I'll say it was a shot," she said with a laugh. "I was just kicking it -- if it went in, it went in. I was hoping one of my teammates could get to it. I could hear it kind of thump a little bit and that's a good sound. I knew I hit it good."
It was Smith's 21st goal of the season, but the senior transfer from Rocky Mount High School made an even bigger play to send the match into overtime.
With the Lady Cyclones (12-3) down a goal with just 30 seconds remaining in stoppage time, Auburn hammered a low liner into the box to her sister Kathryn. The younger Smith gathered the ball and scored on a wide-open shot from 10 yards out.
"I was just thinking we had to score," Auburn Smith said. "I wanted to kick it low and hard and, hopefully, it would ricochet or something."
"I was trying to stay calm because I knew, if I stressed out, I would probably miss it," Kathryn Smith said. "I just calmed down, trapped it and made it."
Erin Meyer-Cuno ripped a blast off CCS keeper Lindsay Baldridge's fingertips midway through the second half to give Gaston Day (12-8) a 1-0 lead.
Lady Cyclones head coach Rhine Sharp felt fortunate not to be down more as poorly as his team played for the majority of the match, particularly the first half.
"It was the absolute worst half of soccer that we've played all season and it might have been the worst half that I've ever coached," said Sharp. "We were just lethargic and our spacing was horrific."
CCS played the ball to feet and spread the field better as the match went on, but Gaston Day head coach Kevin Sims said Auburn Smith's playmaking ability was the difference in the match.
"You have to give them credit for coming with their emotion at the end," Sims said. (Auburn Smith) made some huge plays to create the dangerous moments and that shot in overtime was unstoppable."
The Lady Cyclones held a 9-8 advantage in shots. Baldridge made six saves while Jessie Boloyan stopped seven for Gaston Day.
The championship game appearance will be the first for any Community Christian sport in the eight years of the school's existence.
Faith edged CCS 2-1 in the regular season, but the Lady Cyclones were without two starters and netted an own-goal in the loss. Sharpe expects a better effort today.
"I feel so good for these girls to get here because they've worked so hard," he said. "Hopefully we'll bring our 'A' game."
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