Lady Panthers the lone Houston County soccer team to advance with 3-0 victory against Eastside

PERRY — Of the seven Houston County soccer teams to make the postseason, Perry’s Lady Panthers were the only ones to make it out of round one.

Their 3-0 Thursday night victory against Eastside made them the first team to score a goal, too.

Madeline Foster just barely got her leg up to tip the ball past the rushing keeper, who was too stunned to chase after the ball as it rolled in for the opening goal of he game.

Chloe Resendiz was assisted by Foster with a lob past the defense, which Resendiz slipped into the bottom left of the goal to make it 2-nil with 11:58 to play in the first half.

Mia Mathis took her time lining up a 25-yard dart above the head of the keeper for the third and final goal of the game with 22:45 on the second-half clock.

Although the Lady Panthers ended up with a commanding win, early on it looked like they were doomed to join the ranks of the rest.

The Lady Eagles presented pressure almost immediately and goalkeeper Emersyn Preast tallied her first save less than five minutes in.

The back line had no urgency clearing the ball and Eastside’s attackers had far too much time in front of the goal. Perry had a hard time maintaining possession, too, another common theme among Houston County’s first-round outs.

“One thing I did, because we were looking very shaky the first 10 minutes, is I took Ansley Parker our junior captain and moved her from the midfield back to center back and kind of shifted some players around,” Dooley said. “That really helped settle us down and helped us get our shape, and we were able to start working the ball and controlling the game a little bit better.”

Moving Parker to center back stiffened the back line significantly. She positioned herself well, reacting to player movements and filling spaces in the defense.

She also communicated with her teammates. She could be heard from across the pitch telling players when to drop or when to pick up an assignment.

Center back is a position much like the offensive line in football, you don’t often appreciate them enough until you have a bad one.

“Being vocal back there, communicating, letting everybody know what they needed to do, when they needed a step,” Dooley said on what Parker provided. “[Eastside] had a very strong striker and I thought she did a very good job matching up with her.”

As the game progressed the possession time evened out between the two teams. Perry’s offense couldn’t quite find a rhythm, though, and Foster in particular showed some frustration after a couple of her shots went wide.

Eastside’s desperation also picked up as time ran out, but Preast held strong and got ahold of everything that came her way.

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Perry will host Pace Academy on April 30.