Martin, Pirates make history as late goal secures first-ever victory against Raiders

QUINCY — A goal with four minutes remaining in regulation Tuesday night gave the Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer team a glimmer of hope.

Abbie Martin snuffed that out in a blink.

Roughly a minute after the Raiders trimmed their two-goal deficit in half, Martin burst free on a counterattack and finished with a deft right-footed touch to give Hannibal a 3-1 victory at Advance Physical Therapy Field and its first-ever victory against QND.

The Pirates are off to a 6-1-1 start, which includes a 2-2 draw against Quincy High School 10 days ago at Flinn Stadium that required overcoming a halftime deficit.

This time, Hannibal held the halftime advantage as Martin and Malia Stolte netted goals 10 minutes apart.

First, with 26 minutes remaining in the half, Martin ran onto a ball played from midfield by Matti Harvey that brought Raiders goalkeeper Addison Van Hecke off her line. Martin poked the ball past Van Hecke and into the net for the 1-0 lead.

With 16 minutes remaining, Stolte got the ball into open space off a pass from Aly Falconer and ripped a shot from 30 yards out that carried into the upper right side of the net to make it 2-0.

The game stayed that way until four minutes remained when QND sophomore forward Addie Flesch flung a ball beyond Hannibal’s back line and saw freshman Sierra Thomas run onto it and rip a short-angle shot between Pirates goalkeeper Ava Turner and the post.

Less than a minute later, Hannibal’s Ashley Davis looped a ball from midfield over the top of the QND defense that Martin ran onto, tucked past Van Hecke and watched it roll into the net for the clinching goal.

The Raiders (2-3) face QHS at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Advance Physical Therapy Field in the first of two crosstown showdowns. The other takes place May 2 at Flinn Stadium.

Hannibal plays at home Thursday, squaring off against Fulton at 5 p.m. at Veterans Field.