Suffolk News-Herald

Whitney Witt didn’t wait until the last minute to score the game-winner in King’s Fork’s (KF) 3-2 win over visiting Warwick on Monday afternoon. She didn’t even wait until the last second.

She waited until there was absolutely no time left. Witt slapped in an assist from Kristi Dwyer to complete the Lady Bulldogs’ comeback from a 2-0 deficit at the 30-minute mark of the second half. Kelsey Ewell started off the scoring with the first goal of her varsity career, and Dwyer got the second.

After the Lady Raiders knocked two shots past goalkeeper Ashley Payton in the first 17 minutes, the KF offense stopped stagnating and went to town with three corner strokes and four shots.

Then, with less than a minute left, Dwyer charged down the left side and got inside the Warwick circle. She slapped a pass to the right, where Brandi Novak was waiting near the post. She flailed away at the ball, eventually knocking it right into a defender’s shoe for another corner stroke.

Novak whacked the shot to Ewell on the left side of the circle, just inside the line. Ewell corralled it and pushed a bouncing ball into a mass of players in front of the ball. Despite the multitude of flying sticks and stomping cleats, the small sphere found its way past, and didn’t stop until it was in the goal.

The Lady Bulldogs put on a passing clinic to start the second half, as Dwyer, Novak, Ewell and Ashley Pinzon touched the ball before any Lady Raider. Dwyer eventually got the ball just inside the Lady Raider circle, and golfed a shot toward the right side. A defender knocked it down, but knocked it almost directly back to Dwyer, who started forward, then repeated the procedure, hitting in a shot 1:06 into the half.

The remainder was remarkably even, with both teams missing several corner strokes. The Lady Raiders did manage to knock two more balls by Payton, but both of them were from outside the circle. With about 40 seconds to play, Dwyer got a pass at midfield and hurtled toward the Warwick goal.

A defender got the ball, and passed toward the right sideline. Another Lady Raider got the ball, only to find Mary Rose in her face. She passed toward the center, but Ewell reached out and stopped it. Dwyer hurried back, and with the clock ticking past 10 seconds, turned and slipped a pass inside the circle where Witt was running forward. With four seconds to go, she grabbed the ball, started toward the center, and suddenly reared back and hammered a shot toward the left side of the goal. It deflected off the keeper’s leg and skittered into the goal as the clock expired.

&uot;I had no idea (about the time),&uot; Witt said. &uot;I just wanted it to go in. I couldn’t think at all.&uot; The Lady Bulldogs host Indian River on Wednesday.