Through deluge and distress, Lily Veracka extended the season for the Westport girls’ soccer team.
The sophomore netted her second goal of the game two minutes into double overtime, lifting the 35th-seeded Wildcats to a 2-1 victory over No. 30 O’Bryant in a Division 4 preliminary-round match Friday afternoon at Madison Park High School.
Westport (13-4-3) advances to play No. 3 Douglas (14-2-2) in the first round (TBA).
After being ousted, 8-0, by Seekonk, in a prelim last fall, the Wildcats are excited to move on after Veracka connected from inside the box.
“I was just really scared I was going to miss,” said Veracka with a smile.
The beginning of the game was a different story for the Wildcats, whose sluggish start was plagued with mistimed touches and bad finishes.
“We weren’t finding feet, and I said it was up to them to change that,” said Westport first-year coach Gus Araujo. “We’d have a long bus ride home, so thankfully we started finding opportunities.”
O’Bryant (13-4-2), which captured the City League title last Saturday, controlled the ball for the majority of the first half. The Tigers found the back of the net in the 12th minute on a strike in traffic from Kasey Rodriguez off a Camila Restrepo corner.
The Wildcats’ first beacon of hope came in the 45th minute, and it wasn’t just the rain slowing down. Freshman Madison Wenson delivered a perfect leading pass to Veracka, who finished off the equalizer.
“Our passes were getting a lot better and our wingers were getting back [in the second half],” said Veracka.
As the rain picked up, both squads traded shots at the end of regulation. In the first 10-minute OT, Westport fended off the O’Bryant attack.
In the second overtime, Veracka scored a goal nearly identical to her first.
“That’s the way we’ve played most of the season: counterattacking football,” said Veracka, “We made some mistakes in the back, but we held firm.”
Division 1
North Andover 4, Everett 0 — Avery Damour led with a goal and assist as the No. 31 Scarlet Knights (8-7-4) pierced their way to a preliminary-round win. Lila Credi, Brinley Desrosier, and Ryan Bodenrader also scored, and Emma Damour earned the shutout.
Division 3
Hudson 6, Latin Academy 0 — Senior Anna Iacobucci scored a hat trick for the No. 24 Hawks (10-5-1), and freshman Keira Faherty tacked on two more goals in the preliminary-round win over No. 41 Latin Academy (7-10-2).
Boys’ soccer
Division 2
Duxbury 3, Middleborough 1 — Cam Heald, Drew Mullins, and Lucas Heald scored as the No. 25 Green Dragons (9-6-3) soared to a preliminary-round victory over No. 40 Middleborough (7-8-4).
Field hockey
Division 1
Lincoln-Sudbury 8, Malden Catholic 0 — Senior Sabrina Tibbert led the way with a pair of goals and senior Elise Cecere racked up five assists to propel the top-seeded Warriors (15-0-2) to a dominant first-round win over the No. 32 Lancers (4-13-2).
Waltham 2, Woburn 1 — Senior Leah Browne netted a pair of goals, both assisted by junior Hannah O’Brien, as the No. 11 Hawks (10-5-3) rolled past the No. 22 Tanners (8-8-3) in a first-round matchup.
Division 3
Uxbridge 6, Belchertown 0 — Ava Rosborough stacked a hat trick for the second-seeded Spartans (16-0-3) in a first-round triumph over No. 31 Belchertown (11-4-4).
Alex Yu can be reached at alex.yu@globe.com.