By Kyle Schikore

The Varsity girls Soccer team competed in the Class 3 District 7 title match on Friday May 20 at 6:00 p.m. against the Howell Vikings at Howell. The Knights won the game 2-1 in double overtime on a goal by Senior Kelsey Fouch. The team was down by a goal for most of the game, but late in the second half, Junior Nicole Massarand scored off of an FHN free kick to bring the game to a 1-1 tie.

“[After the first goal] I thought, ‘Yeah we’ve got this,’” Sophomore Hali Long said. “I just knew we were going to score again. There was no way we were going to lose.”

After a hard fought end to regulation time, the Knights and Vikings took their struggle into overtime. According to Long, this was stressful because the team has been to overtime numerous times throughout the regular season. The two teams battled through another 15 minutes of soccer, and the match proceeded to a second overtime.

“I felt like it was our last chance to score,” Long said. “It was now or never.”

Once again, the teams were deadlocked through the first ten minutes of the second overtime, when the game was halted because of an injury to a North player. Ten seconds after the injury timeout, Fouch buried the ball into the back of the Howell goal, winning the District Championship for the Knights.

“I was really excited because I really wanted to win,” Senior Sarah Peth said. “We had all played so hard, and we really wanted to win, so it was exciting when we finally got the win.”

The team continues their playoff run on Tuesday May 24 at 7 p.m. The Knights will take on Zumwalt West at home in their Sectional match. The girls were thrilled by the fan base at the District game.  According to Peth and Long, the “Hackman Hooligans” (the group of students that was the core of the student section) pumped the team up and made them feel enthused, but they expect the same at the Sectional game.

“I’m expecting nothing less than what we had Friday,” Long said. “I’m expecting so many more people.”