Eye-opening opener: Brunswick girls soccer surprises Middletown in 4-3 win

Mar. 9—MIDDLETOWN — Seated next to his wife, Cindy, as he was operating the scoreboard clock for Monday's girls soccer match between Brunswick and Middletown, Mark Estep found some time to give his older daughter a first-half update of the contest.

Olivia Estep graduated from Brunswick last year after playing for a 7-7 Railroaders team in the fall of 2019.

"They're beating Middletown varsity?!" she texted back after hearing Brunswick had raced out to a 2-0 lead.

Mark Estep sensed his daughter was quite surprised considering she attached an exclamation point at the end of her message.

And while the Railroaders watched last year's Class 2A state runner-up whittle away a three-goal second-half deficit over a 10-minute span, Brunswick responded with a counterattack on offense that seemed to catch Middletown by surprise the entire match.

Sophomore forward Atiya Jackson scored her second goal of the match, a tiebreaking tally in the 77th minute, and the Railroaders hung on to beat Middletown 4-3 in the season opener for both teams.

The contest was moved to Middletown because Brunswick officials were concerned the grass surface at Brunswick would have been too soggy for competition.

First-year Brunswick coach Dara Demich played on a Railroaders team that beat the Knights in 2011, and she doesn't believe Brunswick had defeated Middletown since then.

But Jackson, a fleet-footed sophomore forward who played on the junior varsity last year, certainly didn't lack confidence going into the match, pointing out that the Railroaders had beaten the Knights in a JV match the previous season.

Sophomore midfielder Ryley Backer, who scored a goal in the first half off a corner kick and later assisted on the first of Jackson's two goals in the 54th minute, also played JV soccer last year.

"It's a really different speed from last year," Backer said. "We just move the ball and work as a team, I think, way better than we did ever before."

When the movement is at its best and the Railroaders are able to get quick passes to players such as Jackson from opponents' attacking third of the field, it can make for a dangerous counterattack.

A counterattack generated Brunswick's other goal, a tally by Morgan McKnew off a nice pass from Caitlyn Lee.

"We've got some forwards up top with speed, so yeah, if we can hit them on the counter, we're going to try and get in behind," said Demich, who also commended Lee for her playmaking ability and the quartet of Shianne Tibbs, Maggie Williams, Emily Mohler and Anna Gibson on the back line.

On Jackson's game-winning goal, she dribbled down the left flank before cutting back to the middle of the field and around a defender before lofting a shot into the net from about 20 yards out.

When she first started playing soccer, Jackson was a goalkeeper.

"Surprising, isn't it?" Backer said as she stood next to Jackson after the game.

When she was a fifth-grader, Jackson started getting into track and field, and her speed started to evolve as time went on.

"[Demich's] style of play is fast-paced, and it fits us both well," Jackson said.

Throughout the match, Middletown found ways to get into the attacking third through inspired play from Millie Smith, Isabella Ewine and Brynn Gentile — a valuable member of a strong Knights back line last year who started playing forward in the later stages of the match.

Chloe Darden scored off a nice pass from Ewine to get the Knights on the board in the 62nd minute, and then Smith scored off a PK in the 69th minute before tallying another goal in the 72nd minute on a shot that pinballed around the box and went off a player and into the net.

Middletown coach Heather Kline was missing four players in the game, including dangerous forward Jade Catlin. But with COVID-19 having disrupted so much of the sports world, Kline focused on the big picture in athletics.

"I'm just happy the girls got to play an entire game," she said.