SOUTH HADLEY — Summer Molin’s back faced the mouth of goal.
The Granby sophomore forward stood on the left corner of the 6-yard box and watched senior Erin Mikalchus place the ball for a free kick 35 yards away just inside the touchline.
Southwick and Granby were tied with 3 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in their Western Massachusetts Division 3 girls soccer semifinal.
Mikalchus raised her left arm, took a three-step approach and lofted the ball into the box.
“I know that if I can land it at the top of the 6, Summer or Nora (Young) will be there to finish it,” Mikalchus said. “Summer can usually get a head on it.”
Molin watched the ball float in the air for two seconds then flicked it goalward with a quick twist of her neck.
“I try to get as much body on it as I can, usually my head, just trying to do it for Erin,” Molin said. “I did not know (if it was on target), I just kind of headed it and didn’t see until everyone was running at me.”
The goal clinched a 2-1 win for Granby and a return trip to the Western Mass. finals. The second-seeded Rams (15-2-3) will play No. 4 Wahconah (13-5-2) at a time and site to be determined.
Granby coach Bob Weaver took a timeout after the goal to calm his team and instruct them on the last 3:48. Granby possessed the ball for nearly the entire stretch, keeping it in the corner and preventing any Southwick opportunities.
“Just watching a game like that is fun,” Weaver said. “The last 3:48 I (lost) a couple years of life.”
Southwick forward Lydia Kinsman probably shaved a few off, too.
She had a breakaway in the 51st minute and faced Granby keeper Brooklyn Baran alone in the box. Baran (five saves) tipped the ball over the bar after a point-blank shot.
“I’ll take Brooklyn any day,” Weaver said. “She can knock down anything.”
Southwick played the ball after it hit the football upright and put it in the net, but the goal was disallowed and Southwick was given a corner after it hit the upright.
“If (Kinsman) had that chance again, she’d probably bury it, and it’d be a different story,” Southwick coach Todd Downie said. “Unfortunately for us their keeper made a really good save.”
Kinsman provided the assist on Southwick’s goal in the sixth minute to go up 1-0. She found Alex Mello, who buried a shot high and to the left side of goal.
“I think that goal was a wake-up call for us. Obviously we weren’t taking Southwick lightly because we saw them in the finals last year,” Mikalchus said. “I was never like ‘we just lost.’ We had time, we just needed to settle down and play our game.”
Mikalchus helped engineer an equalizer in the 32nd minute. She found Trystin Burger with a through ball, and she beat Southwick keeper Tori Richburg to tie the game at 1.
“We kind of just read each other’s minds. We work with each other so well, we know just what the other one is going to be doing when they do it,” Mikalchus said. “As soon as I saw her with her hand up on that run I knew she would put it in.”
Granby spent most of the second half trying to find Molin on breakaway runs. She collected a few but couldn’t get a strong enough touch on the run to beat Richburg (five saves).
In the end, Molin didn’t need to use her legs, all she had to do was use her head.