LISBON — Mountain Valley’s Sarah Klein was the closest thing to a one-girl wrecking crew Monday against Lisbon. 

Klein crashed the Greyhounds’ senior day parade with a hat trick, her third goal coming with just 2:26 remaining to give the Falcons a 3-2 victory. Mountain Valley fought back twice to win its sixth straight match. 

The Greyhounds (7-3-3) looked to have secured the victory when Kailyn Hill headed a ball past Falcons goalkeeper Karen Flaherty off a corner kick in the 64th minute to give Lisbon a 2-1 lead. But Klein scored twice in the final 16 minutes to steal the victory. 

“You can’t stop playing just because you take the lead with 16 minutes to go,” Lisbon coach Jake Gentle said. “You have to keep playing until the end of the game. We had a couple of defensive breakdowns and they capitalized on it.” 

Klein’s hat-trick goal was set up by teammate LeAnne McNally, who took a direct kick from near midfield in the 77th minute. McNally struck a beautiful ball into the box to the left of the net and Klein stuck her foot out and angled it past Lisbon goalkeeper Alexandra Sult for the match-winning goal. 

“I saw it coming in and I hoped for the best when I stuck my foot out,” Klein said. “I honestly felt like I was about to cry when it went in. It’s not just me. It’s my entire team. We worked together and it was a team effort.” 

The Falcons (10-3) outshot the Greyhounds 6-1 in the first half, but it was Lisbon that scored first. Deliah Schrieber fended off two Mountain Valley defenders near midfield before finding space in the box and lofted a shot over the head of Flaherty into the top left corner of the net. 

The Falcons responded two minutes later on Klein’s first tally of the match when she buried a shot from the left side of the field into the far-side corner to tie the match, 1-1. 

“They’re a no-give-up team,” Mountain Valley coach Lynn Gould said. “They’ll go until the end. They’ve been taught to play until the whistle. Play to the end of the game and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing.” 

The Falcons were knocking on the doorstep to start the second half. They had two corner kicks and Ashley Russell saw her direct kick from 18 yards out go just over the crossbar in the 58th minute. 

The Greyhounds capitalized on their only corner kick of the second half. Schrieber served a perfect ball into the box and found Lisbon’s tallest player, Hill, who headed the ball into the back of the net to put the Greyhounds back in front.

Klein said her team was undeterred by Lisbon’s late goal. 

“It just clicked in our minds that this is going to tell the rest of the season,” Klein said. “It’s the last week of the regular season for the seniors and we wanted to make sure we’re going into our senior night with high hopes.” 

The Falcons once again fought back to tie the game in the 73rd minute, and it was Klein scoring the goal. Klein got behind her defender and had a clear path on net, which she made count by scoring her second goal of the match. 

“Sarah’s performance was huge,” Gould said. “Everyone’s performance was huge. Defensive performance was huge. It was a general team effort. Sarah led the scoring. Overall, it was a team win.” 

Flaherty finished with two saves, both coming in the final minutes to preserve the win. 

Sult stopped seven shots. 

mkraft@sunjournal.com