Lily Brzezicki’s brick wall in goal not enough as Houston County falls to Creekview in round one

WARNER ROBINS — Even the strongest fortress walls succumb to enough pressure.

Junior goalkeeper Lily Brzezicki has been a brick wall for Houston County (12-4) this season, and that continued on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament against Creekview (11-7).

The Lady Grizzlies’ attack was aggressive early and were it not for Brzezicki’s presence in goal the score would’ve been a lot more lopsided than the 1-0 loss for the Lady Bears.

“We were mentally prepared for that early pressure, but Lily definitely saved us a good bit tonight with some solid saves,” HoCo head coach Gabby Wells said. “Most of the success that we did have throughout the game we can attribute to her, she did very well.”

Unfortunately for HoCo that’s where the clear positives begin to wane.

Creekview controlled possession and had the Lady Bears on their heels the entire game.

The forwards maintained possession the best but often lacked an outlet when they faced double teams. The midfield struggled to progress the ball and the back line, though they didn’t allow a goal in play, didn’t clear danger quickly enough in many scenarios.

To give the defense a little more credit, it did take a fortunate header from Creekview’s Presley McDermott to get the ball in the net.

The Lady Grizzlies’ sent their first corner kick of the game right into the fray and McDermott’s head was the one that came through, bouncing the ball off the ground and past Brzezicki’s right-hand side for the lone score of the evening.

“We watched a little bit of film on them and just seeing how they performed throughout the season, they’ve been really good about set pieces,” Wells said. “Most of their goals that I’ve seen them score have been through set pieces like corner kicks. So we practiced them and just, they did what they do really well.”

Creekview had several more corner kicks and HoCo defended them very well in the second half, getting a booming header to clear the ball on more than one occasion. That one just slipped past them.

The Lady Bears’ biggest problem was their inability to stop the ball and the Lady Grizzlies’ passing prowess.

Every kick seemed intentional and often found a teammate and their correct foot. Even if it was just a touch, chances were Creekview sent the ball to the right place.

HoCo couldn’t recreate that nor could they get out in front of most of those passes. It was a big contributor to their lack of shots.

“They come from a very good region, that entire region is very good at passing and moving,” Wells said. “We just weren’t quite as quick with predicting that play as we should have been.”

UP NEXT

The Lady Bears end their season as Region 2-5A champions.

Creekview will play either McIntosh or Kennesaw Mountain in the second round.