Lady Warhawks beat Perry in two-goal comeback

WARNER ROBINS — Few teams have stopped the Perry offensive this season like Veterans did on Wednesday night.

The 2-1 final in favor of the Lady Warhawks was the first time the Lady Panthers had been held to a goal or less since February 14, five games into the season.

This is the second time Patrick Hunter’s team has matched up with Perry this season, the last result a 2-0 victory. So needless to say they’re familiar with what’s been a potent offense.

“We knew they were going to present us with probably three strikers,” Hunter said. “So we knew the outside backs were probably going to be in a one-on-one situation…so we had to make sure our center backs communicated, which I think we clarified that at halftime. A couple hiccups probably [in] the second half…But I thought we did pretty solid.”

The first 40 minutes was all Perry. There was plenty of transition ball in a fast-paced opening but the Lady Panthers were the only team consistently putting pressure on goal. Though their lone score of the evening was the result of a penalty kick with 22:18 left in the first half.

Perry sent out a few more shots before halftime but failed to connect on any, and their defense faced little meaningful pressure from Veterans.

But the script flipped in the second half.

The Lady ‘Hawks opened with an impressive diving save from goalkeeper Makenna Smith, who laid out on her right side to save one of Rylee Beasley’s many second-half shots.

The Lady Panthers whiffed on a corner kick and their many through balls were fruitless as the Veterans back line and keeper cleared out much of the danger.

The offense responded on the other end, too.

The Lady ‘Hawks were able to maintain possession in the attacking third much longer than in the first 40 minutes, and with 21 minutes to go Kahley Guevara slipped the equalizer into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Time continued to tick and Beasley continually put shots up but just couldn’t get one in the net.

In the final five minutes Veterans threatened multiple times. But with 3:28 left on the clock Marley Loyd headed in the go-ahead goal.

“They were playing back more…and I felt like at half [the] adjustment was don’t play long ball, it’s just not our game,” Hunter said of the team’s halftime changes. “Just connect passes because they’re giving us that space so we need to exploit it, and I felt like we did a good job.”

UP NEXT

That was Veterans’ final home game. Their next match will be at Northside-Columbus on April 10.

Perry plays their final region game against Warner Robins on April 10.