By Andy Walter

CAMDEN — Gabrielle Davis wasn’t thinking about where she was shooting the ball.

The Caesar Rodney High junior forward just knew she wanted to get something on goal.

But, as it turned out, Davis probably couldn’t have aimed her shot any better. The ball found the upper right corner, just under the crossbar.

“I knew that we didn’t have much time left to score, so I just shot it,” said Davis. “I was honestly just shooting to try to score and it went right in there. It was awesome. Everyone was so excited.”

There haven’t been too many times ever that anyone has considered the Riders the underdog in a Henlopen North matchup. But their showdown with Smyrna on Monday night might have been one.

That’s why CR’s players were so excited when Davis’ overtime goal gave them a hard-earned 2-1 win over the Eagles and clinched the North crown.

The Riders have won the division title every year there’s been one in the sport except for one.

“Going into the Smyrna game, we knew that could make our season,” said CR coach Dwayne Lavender. “Or it could totally break our season. They knew that and they were hungry.

“We were due. We’d worked hard. And I think that was a big game to get us to turn the corner.”

The North title sends the Riders (9-6) to the Henlopen Conference championship game where they will face South champion Indian River (12-2) once again. The contest is slated for today at 4 p.m. at Sussex Academy.

With the Henlopen adding conference championship games in baseball and softball, it’s one of several titles on the line today.

Also on tap are the title games in softball (Laurel at Smyrna, 4:15 p.m.), baseball (Indian River at Sussex Tech, 4:15 p.m.), boys’ lacrosse (Cape Henlopen at Sussex Academy) and track & field (at Lake Forest, 4 p.m.).

The finals of the Henlopen tennis tournament are slated for Saturday at Caesar Rodney and Polytech.

On paper, this has been a subpar season for CR. But five of its six losses have come by just one goal.

Lavender would rather think of the Riders as being “battle-tested.”

“Our strength of schedule is the best in the state,” said Lavender, who’s in his first full season as CR’s head coach. “I would rather be battle-tested and have some losses than not be battle-tested and have a good record.

“Everyone in the (Division I) state tournament, with the exception of Middletown, we’ve played. And they’ve been battles. So our girls are going in believing they can play at that level. ... I think that’s going to make things better at crunch time.”

“We know we’re battle-tested and we know we’re battle-ready,” said senior co-captain Haley Schafer. “We know we can do better and fix the stuff for the tournament.

“Anything can happen in soccer. Anyone can lose. I think we just come out hard and ready and keep up our enthusiasm.”

Still, last week was a pretty rough one for the Riders.

On Thursday, in a 4-1 win at Delmar, they lost standout senior forward Jada McCullough to a leg injury. Then, the next day, they fell to perennial Division II power Caravel, 4-0.

Lavender said there’s a chance that McCullough could return before the end of the state tourney. On the other hand, CR also proved at Smyrna that it can win without its top player.

The Riders also beat Dover, 3-1, on Wednesday night to finish 7-0 in the North.

McCullough is one of only four seniors on CR’s roster. Sophia Kammer and Maritza Flores are the others.

McCullough had 13 goals and four assists before the injury.

“I definitely think a lot of people think we can only play through Jada,” said Schafer. “It (the Smyrna game) really helped show that we’re a team, we’re a unit. A lot of girls can step up into positions and help us win.”

Losing, even if it is for good reasons, is never easy, of course. Lavender said the Riders have had some team meetings to look at the big picture.

But CR’s players also feel like their record doesn’t define their ability.

“It’s a very mature group,” said Lavender. “They never lost faith.”

“In the end, we know what we did wrong,” said Davis. “We know what we have to do to fix it. ... We’re definitely going to try to win no matter what.”