PHS girls cap hard week by beating Bulldogs

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

mbrown@sunmulti.com
Dark clouds were both literal and figurative in the week that was for the Perry High Lady Panther soccer team. The silver lining, though, to cap a rough five-day stretch was a needed win in Region 2-AAAA at home.
Against Mary Persons High, Perry’s girls were victorious 2-1 in a match that began – quite literally – with the second significant injury in as many matches. One minute had not expired before senior defender Ansley Gentry was down on the grass in significant pain. She would not play the rest of the evening for what head coach Courtney Herbert explained as concerns over a torn knee ligament.
It was on Feb. 26 (a match moved one day after the rain on Feb. 25), also at home, against 2-AAAA foe Rutland High that Courtney Winston broke two bones in one of her legs. She had an operation the following day. Perry lost to the Lady Hurricanes 4-1.
“The girls had a hard week,” said Herbert. The coach said, after the team lost a second player early on Friday, they really wanted to get the win against Mary Persons and knew they had to work that much harder. Plus, she said the Lady Panthers already had incentive to defeat Mary Persons after two shutout losses last season, one being in an overtime shootout 1-0.
Even though the win this season put Perry girls at 3-1 overall, Herbert said it’s been a rough season as a whole. Getting to 1-1 in the region gives her reason to look forward to more improvement and progress.
“We have six returning seniors, three juniors and nine freshmen,” she said. “So we have solid experience and some newcomers. We are always trying to rebuild. The freshmen are still learning the basic tenants of soccer. One of our strengths is we get along real well and care about each other.”
On Friday, the coach said the defense was shaken by the loss of Gentry but quickly got back to business. The Lady Bulldogs from Forsyth had the match’s first corner kick three minutes later, and Sarah Whiddon, Mary Jan Lollis and Laena Morgan all worked to get the ball away from keeper Debbie Velazquez.
The midfielder Morgan, seven minutes in, dealt with her defender to create Mary Persons’ first goalkeeper action. On the other end, Velazquez made a stop two minutes later.
Perry’s first corner came at the 29-minute mark. Ivey Johnson made the kick towards Mattie Hamilton. The freshman had her knee shot saved. Soon thereafter Johnson sent a free kick to an open Morgan, but her crossing attempt went wide.
Corner kicks, something Herbert doesn’t usually see executed with success, turned out to be fruitful. Her team had one at 24:15, and Diana Sanchez settled the ball at the top of the box for a saved shot.
On the defensive end, Keeley Winston, the other twin in her family, played well in her sister’s place alongside Lollis and Samantha Smith in a match where possession time was near even. Velazquez’s next save was at the 19-minute mark, and at 17:40 the visiting keeper beat Ashley Collins to a free ball.
As the first half moved into the final 10 minutes, Velazquez’s best save, at 6:11, stopped the ball at the corner of the net. Mary Persons, at 4:15, would be awarded a penalty kick on a hand ball in the box. This shot, however, hit the top bar keeping the match scoreless.
The Lady Bulldogs, at 2:30, heard the whistle on their own hand ball violation, and Johnson set up for the free kick. Tiana Ortiz, Perry’s standout cross country runner, connected to break the tie.
There was still a chance Mary Persons would tie the match before halftime. Winston’s defensive work set up a clean catch for Velazquez with 12 seconds on the clock.
Perry’s second goal came eight minutes into the second half, and it was the result of a corner kick. Sanchez and Collins, at 32:30, collaborated on an attack in the box, and the keeper knocked the ball out to give the Lady Panthers the corner try. Collins was able to secure the ball among numerous players for her goal making it 2-0.
Mary Persons attacked hard at 29:15, but it was Morgan and Lollis running hard to keep up and force a corner that did not result in any shot on goal. Whiddon, at 25:11, hit a strong clearing kick near the net as the Lady Bulldogs began to control possession time. Velazquez caught another shot near the goal’s corner at 24:07.
At 16:32, the visitors scored from the top of the box, hitting the ball high enough to elude the keeper’s reach but low enough to clear the bar.
Velazquez got her hands on a long free kick at 12:50, kicked away a fast break attempt at 7:12 and scooped up a 30-yarder hit hard at 5:30.

PHS girls cap hard week by beating Bulldogs

Paid Posts

Author

PHS girls cap hard week by beating Bulldogs

Paid Posts

Author

Related Articles