Lowndes ends Lady Bears’ perfect spring

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Only three minutes remained in regulation time when, on a high arcing shot, Lowndes High’s girls soccer team ended the spotless season in the loss column for the Houston County High Lady Bears in 2013.

The home team on Friday had one good chance for a leveling goal, that on Jessica Do’s 30-yard free kick inside of two minutes to play, but the Vikette goalkeeper had the save. With that, Lowndes traveled back to Valdosta with a 1-0 victory.

Not only was this the first loss of the spring for Houston County girls, but also the first time Sid Baxley saw his team go through 40 minutes without a point. In the first six matches, the Lady Bears averaged nearly eight goals per match. The one goal for Lowndes was only the third allowed in seven outings.

Houston and Lowndes are former region rivals dating back to 2010. Friday’s match was Lowndes’ third straight non-region victory in the series and second shutout in a row (2-0 win last season in Valdosta).

In the 2013 version, it was even soccer from start to finish. For the first six minutes, it was Lowndes taking numerous throw-ins and 50-50 wins. On Houston’s defensive end, Do, Olivia Walters and Hanna Wilkes were quite busy but also quite successful in protecting Brook Neville’s goalkeeper position. So much so that Neville only had to touch the ball one time in nearly 18 minutes.

At 27:37, Lowndes’ goalkeeper turned in an amazing catch in the air when Jasmine Johnson and Sholeh Rezaee were on the attack. Houston County, for most of the half, was victim of tight one-on-one Vikette defense.

The visitors took the first corner kick at 22:30, but Kaylee Bromell cleared the ball away. Lowndes maintained it, and seconds later Neville had her first save.

At 19:35, Liz Upchurch broke away with the ball to take an open cross, but she missed wide. She did it again with less than 18 minutes left in the half. Upchurch passed inside to Razaee, but her shot was blocked.

Neville made her next save reaching behind her to catch a free kick at 14:45. Walters along with Sydney Humphrey stood out on defense for the next two minutes, Humphrey breaking up one shot attempt.

With the clock under nine minutes, Do and Brittany Greene did a lot of passing work between them. The ball ended up with Bromell for a high shot. The Lady Bears also took two free kicks inside of 25 yards that sailed over the net.

Upchurch had another break at 3:30 but could not get a clean look. At 1:55 Greene chased the ball to the left corner for a pass to Bromell, whose ensuing try was wide of the mark.

Walters and Humphrey were called on again for big defensive stands that kept the match tied 0-0 at the break.

Neville made stops within 20 seconds of each other inside the first six minutes of the second half. Play went back and forth, Lowndes doing a good job of keeping up with Upchurch’s speed. The Vikettes also earned a throw-in close to one corner, and it was Walters, Wilkes, Humphrey and Kiara West battling in the box before Neville could finally get on the ball at 31:15.

The half saw a lot of tussling for the ball, Rachel Preston returning from a first-half injury to contribute some physical play. Each side couldn’t make anything of 30-yard free kicks, but with less than 18 minutes to go the scoring chances increased.

Neville made a key save with her arm blocking the ball on a break (17:52), and she saved a pass-and-shoot combination (15:31). Greene rushed down the right side, but missed the goal (14:37), and Do was really active taking a 27-yarder saved (13:30) and earning a free kick at 10:10 that was saved.

With four minutes left, Lowndes took possession deep on the right side and had two shots off a free kick nowhere close to the net. But one player, at 3:08, lined up the ball in the middle and delivered the winning kick.

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Lowndes ends Lady Bears’ perfect spring

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