DURHAM -- Ranked the No. 3 boys soccer team in the nation by one poll and No. 4 by ESPN, Jordan saw its unbeaten season washed away with a 2-1 loss to Green Hope in the third round of the NCHSAA 4-A playoffs Tuesday night at Barringer Field.
Green Hope, ranked No. 7 in the state by eurosportscoreboard.com, scored with 9:42 left in the second half to break a 1-1 tie and clinch the most shocking upset of the playoffs.
The winning goal came after a free kick from just inside midfield by Logan Paussa sailed into the box, deflected off the head of Green Hope's Nader Jaibat and splashed down in front of senior Jared Girard.
Girard one-timed the ball into the upper right corner of the net and was subsequently mugged by his teammates as he sprinted toward the sideline in jubilation.
It was unofficially Girard's third goal of the night. The first came when Girard was once again the recipient of a free kick, this time with 1:10 left in the first half.
Chase Keesling sent the ball to the far right corner of the box, where it flicked off Girard's head into the near corner of the net. It was only the seventh goal scored on Jordan (21-1-0) all season.
Green Hope (17-2-4) held that lead until 21:05 left to play, when Jordan's Jonathan Ray skidded a shot past a Green Hope defender before it deflected into the net off a sliding Girard for an own goal.
"That's the first hat trick I've scored in a long time," Girard said jokingly. "I'll take it though. ... It hasn't hit me yet."
It was an unsettling result for Jordan, which after a perfect regular season had hopes of a perfect end with a state championship.
"They're devastated. This is a great team," coach Steve Turner said. "We've had a great season, and this is the first loss of the year, and it's the end of the season."
Even more surprising was that Jordan fell to a team it beat handily 4-1 in their previous meeting Aug. 24. "It's tough. It's hard to say goodbye to seniors of that caliber. We have great players here, and to not win with great players like that is my fault," Turner said.
"They're such a good team. We actually thought the rain might be in our favor because they were so fast," Green Hope coach Andrew Chadwick said. "We scored on two free kicks. We talked about free kicks, and free kicks win championships and win games."
The coaches from both teams wanted to move the game to 5 p.m. so as to avoid most of Tuesday's torrential downpour, but the change was disallowed by the NCHSAA.
"You couldn't play soccer out here," Chadwick said. "It was like playing soccer on a lake."
With the win, Green Hope will move on to the East semifinals to face the winner of today's Broughton-Durham Riverside match.
Green Hope is undefeated (14-0-2) in its last 16 games heading into that contest. Despite losing eight seniors from last year's team to collegiate soccer, it will be the Falcons' third consecutive trip to the fourth round of the playoffs.
Senior goalkeeper James Earle said a concerted effort to improve during the offseason has paid off.
"We just worked hard in the offseason, bonded as a team, learned to play together, and as you can see we've really improved," Earle said. "We lost to this team 4-1 [at home] and beat them 2-1 in the playoffs."
