HUMBLE — After playing the first half to a scoreless tie, Port Neches-Groves converted a corner kick less than two minutes into the second half and held on for a slim 1-0 win over Huntsville on Thursday in Class 4A bi-district playoff soccer action at Charles Street Stadium.
The Lady Indians’ Marisa Elam took a corner kick and booted it past goalie Chelsea McCracken 1:41 into the second half for the game’s only score, ending the Lady Hornets’ remarkable season at 13-9.
“The girls played real hard and battled the whole time,” Lady Hornets coach Pres Holcomb said. “Our archnemesis is the corner kick. We have a hard time defending against it. I guess it’s kind of fitting and that’s what beat us.”
The fifth-year coach did not expect the low-scoring affair, though.
“I told (assistant) coach (Jennifer Briggs) before the game that we’d get them 3-2,” Holcomb said. “I definitely did not think that we wouldn’t score. That really surprised me as we pushed three forwards the whole game. Their keeper (Breanne Martin) is really good; she had 11 shutouts this year.”
PN-G (17-5) held a 24-12 edge in shots on goal and spent most of its time in Huntsville’s backfield.
“One of our problems is that our defense was so far back and our forwards were so far forward that we had this big gaping hole in the middle,” Holcomb said. “We could never get on the ball. They had some speed in the back. Usually we have a couple of girls that can blow by them but they couldn’t do it tonight.”
Holcomb stated that his team has lived and died by the quick strike this year and was limited on scoring opportunities by the Lady Indians.
“When you push three forwards high and one in the midfield, you kind of know they’re looking for the fastbreak,” he said. “That’s why we beat a lot of the teams that we played — just sending the ball over the top and letting our fast people run it for us.”
The Lady Hornets have plenty to build on next year as they made their first appearance since 2004.
“The future for Lady Hornet soccer looks pretty good,” the coach said. “We’re looking our center defense, which will hurt a lot. Luckily, we aren’t losing any forwards and that should be advantageous for us. Plus, our keeper (McCracken, who had 270 saves this season) is only a freshman.”
Holcomb believes that things will only get better for the Huntsville girls.
“They definitely have the taste for it now,” he said. “That will be my push for the offseason heading into next year. They’ll know that we got to the first playoff game; now our job will be to get further. Our district will be a little different next year with the addition of Magnolia and Magnolia West. Magnolia is a pretty good team so it will be a challenge. If the girls play like they did this year, they’ll do well.”
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Lady Hornets lose a heartbreaker
Huntsville soccer team bows out of playoffs
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