The Lady Chiefs of McIntosh High School were less than four minutes away from their third straight state championship appearance, but Northgate High School erased a late deficit to send the Vikings to the state finals for the first time in school history.
The Vikings won 2-1 in overtime in Tuesday’s Class AAAAA state semifinals and will play Whitewater High School Saturday for the state championship at 5 p.m. at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton.
Lily Barron scored the game-tying goal with just 3:59 left in the second half and later the game-winner in overtime on an assist from junior Katie Mitchell.
“You have to tip your cap to Northgate, they played a good game and we wish them the best,” McIntosh head coach Marcia Clark said.
The Vikings held the two-time defending state champions in check for the majority of the match. The first half was scoreless for both teams, as McIntosh missed several opportunities including a couple of key corner kicks in the first half.
Finally McIntosh’s Hannah Hartman converted a header off a corner kick in the 68th minute to take the slim lead.
“We needed to keep attacking; a one-point lead is pretty fragile with that amount of time left,” said Clark.
With 3:59 left to play, Northgate’s Barron sent a shot just over the outstretched hands of McIntosh goalie Kaitlin Deitrick to tie the game.
The Chiefs stormed down the field with 44 seconds left. On a corner kick, the Chiefs appeared to put the ball just past the line of Northgate’s keeper but the referees ruled no goal, sending the game into overtime.
Just a minute and a half into the first overtime period the Vikings would strike again. McIntosh keeper Deitrick made an aggressive play in an attempt to halt Northgate’s Mitchell, resulting in a three-player collision. Mitchell managed to cross the ball to Barron who landed the game-winning shot.
