WATERFORD >> The Waterford Mott Corsairs won back the city championship with a 3-2 win over the Waterford Kettering Captains Monday night.

It marked the fourth win by the Corsairs in the last five meetings between the rivals dating back to 2022.

“It hurt, for sure. We wanted it bad,” Kettering head coach Justice Tillotson said. “But we’re looking forward to hopefully seeing them again.”

The Captains got off to a good start with the wind at their backs. Kettering opened the scoring just over 11 minutes into the game when Peyton Eakin played a through ball behind everyone. Savannah Sartorius won the race to the ball, then fired a shot on goal that was saved, but got her own rebound and deposited it into the empty net.

About six minutes later, Sartorius made it 2-0 when she uncorked a shot from 35 yards out that got up in the wind and flew into the top left corner.

But Mott would have an immediate answer and fight back with a trio of goals from Abby Ellis. Ellis started the comeback by scoring a pair of goals in the next two minutes — bundling a ball in off a corner kick, then ripping a shot into the lower left corner to tie the game in a blink.

Ellis then got the eventual game-winner with 7:46 remaining in the first half, taking a through ball from Paisley Newbill, rounding the goalkeeper on the break, and scoring into the open net to give Mott its first lead of the evening.

“She (Ellis) is a special player, not just with her quality but with her work ethic. She always leaves it out on the field, and she’s been big for us this season,” Mott head coach Kevin Tapchom said.

The teams both made defensive adjustments at halftime, and while Mott had the wind in the second half and used it well, having the better of the possession — and the stat sheet — neither team was able to score in the second half. Kettering came the closest, however, ringing a ball off the right post with just under three minutes to play. The ball stayed out, and the Mott defense quickly cleared it up the field to remove the danger.

Overall, both goalkeepers were very busy on the night in what was a particularly offensive-minded game, especially in the first half. Sophia Bradford made nine saves for the Captains, a total that was matched by Mott goalkeeper Jessica Romo. Mott also racked up 14 corner kicks on the evening against a handful of corners for Kettering.

“The girls really came to play. We defended very well. We were very aggressive and proactive, and because of that we created a lot of chances and we were calm on the ball. This has been the best game we played this season,” Tapchom said.

With the win, Mott remains unbeaten overall (3-0-3) and in Lakes Valley Conference play (1-0-2). The Corsairs continue league play on Thursday when they host Lakeland.

The Captains (4-4-1, 2-1-1 LVC) will look to rebound from their first league loss when they’re back in action next Tuesday taking their turn hosting Lakeland.

“Another good learning experience for the girls, and I’m excited to see what we do moving forward,” Tillotson said. “We get a week. We’re going to take the rest of this week. We’re going to work on a lot of the things that we lacked today and look forward to a couple of games next week,” she added.