By Gene Schallenberg
Sports
HUNTSVILLE — After nearly 80 minutes and six goals, the Lady Hornets and Magnolia West had played to a draw.
But Huntsville still had a chance to come away with a win.
With less than a minute to play, Lady Hornets junior Beatriz Juarez, who tallied a hat trick with three goals earlier in the game, weaved between two defenders on a breakaway. With only the goalkeeper between Juarez and the goal, the speedy forward was tripped up inside the penalty box.
Sophomore Caidi Davis stepped in to take the penalty kick, but Magnolia West goalie Hannah Baley trapped the ball on the goal line.
A few seconds later, the final whistle blew and just like their previous meeting this season, the result was a tie.
“It’s frustrating that we didn’t beat this team the first time,” Huntsville head coach Andrew Stewart said. “It was a great, great game. They pressured the whole time. They won most of the balls and hustled their tails off.”
With the score knotted at 2, Juarez put the Lady Hornets (7-4-2 in District 40-4A play, 10-9-2 overall) ahead with a header as Baley attempted to reel in the intended cross.
“We all tried our best. We tried really hard to win,” Juarez said. “We passed really well. I just tried my best to make the goals and help us win.”
Huntsville came into Tuesday’s game in a three-way tie for third place with Magnolia and Montgomery. Without knowing the results of the other district games, Stewart is confident that Huntsville can get into the playoffs with a win on Friday against Willis.
“We’re not upset about it,” the coach said. “We got a point out of it. The seniors don’t want our next game to be our last one, so they want to make sure they get another win and get back to the playoffs.”
Friday’s game at Willis and will be the regular-season finale and will start at 7 p.m.
