Overtime goal gives Bishop Carroll crucial City League soccer victory over North

Bishop Carroll and North each had a lot riding on Thursday night’s soccer game.

Since the start of the season, Bishop Carroll and North were the two teams that had the best shot at taking the City League title, and the two had a chance to prove which would truly lead the City League.

With the two teams being so close in the rankings, it didn’t come as a surprise that the game landed in overtime.

Then, nearly three minutes into overtime, Carroll’s Carson Lee was able to fake out two North defenders and get a shot off for the winning goal, giving the Golden Eagles a 2-1 victory.

“I was praying I didn’t miss it,” Lee said. “You don’t get that many chances, and luckily I got that one and I’m just proud to put it in for my team.”

Lee also scored the first goal, which gave the Golden Eagles the lead heading into the second half.

North saw their chance to equalize when the Redskins’ Miles Miller perfectly executed a free kick, leaving Carroll with “no way” to stop the goal.

“The goal that we did give up, there’s no way he could have stopped it,” Carroll head coach Mike Skaggs said. “It was just a beautiful goal, the North kid put it in the back post.”

Although North ended up falling in overtime, their performance still lived up to what Skaggs thought it would be. He expected North to put up a good fight.

“Our guys just fought back … I couldn’t be more proud, we beat a great team,” Skaggs said. “I picked North to win the City League this year, and that’s with us being three-time defending champions.”

Braeden Huslig, senior goalkeeper for Carroll, said that the Golden Eagles knew the matchup with the Redskins was going to be a league-deciding game.

“We knew coming into the season that North was the team that was between us and City League,” Huslig said. “So coming out here and beating them is huge for us.”

The leg-up in the league wasn’t the only thing riding on the game for Huslig. One win was all it took for him to make school history.

The victory gave Huslig a City League record of 24-0-2, a Bishop Carroll career record.

Skeggs said he reminded Huslig and the team of that the entire week leading up to the game and that the players bought into wanting to make that possible for Huslig.

“This is very special, this is what coaching is about,” Skaggs said. “To see these guys achieve these kind of goals and make these kind of memories.”

Skaggs said that between the overtime win and Huslig making history, Bishop Carroll’s momentum is even better heading into the remainder of City League play.

“We’re in the driver’s seat now for City League,” Skaggs said. “If we can get two more wins then we will be feeling pretty good about our chances.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 10:57 PM.