Perry falls behind early in 5-0 second-round loss to Pace Academy

PERRY — Perry (12-6), like every Houston County team before it, fell to an Atlanta-area school in Pace Academy (11-8) on Thursday.

The 5-0 final marked the end of another season where teams from outside of the Atlanta metro struggle to get into the later rounds of the playoffs.

The farthest the Lady Panthers have gotten under Nathan Dooley is the quarterfinals in 2024 and 2021. The Veterans boys made it to the quarterfinals last year before losing to River Ridge.

Half of Houston County’s games in the opening round were not competitive. As a whole the county was outscored 37-7 in eight playoff games.

“Honestly I just don’t think we have the same resources that they have up there,” Dooley said. “They’ve got multiple soccer clubs that they can play for and just other options that we don’t have south of Atlanta in more rural areas.”

Legion Futbol Club is the only local organization that has academy teams for those older than 13-years-old, and it serves most of central Georgia.

But not every player participates, and not all start at a young age. You can see the difference in the postseason.

Perry’s defense again got off to a shaky start and the communication was lacking. Ansley Parker started at center back, where she was moved last week against Eastside, but her pleas for help to the midfield sometimes went unanswered as the Lady Knights pushed through on counter attacks.

Parker moved the back line up when midfielders didn’t drop to cover advancing players, and that allowed Pace Academy to get behind the defense and push their second score through the net with 25:55 left in the first half.

The Lady Knights also had some stellar offensive sequences that resulted in beautiful curving shots pinned right where goalkeeper Emersyn Preast couldn’t get to them.

Eventually Dooley put senior Julie Marfell at center back and moved Parker back up to the midfield to see if they could get something working, but the score had already become an issue with a 4-0 halftime deficit.

“We were just trying to see if we could get something working,” Dooley said. “Ansley is probably the most versatile player that could play just about any position. Next season, though, she’ll probably slide into that defensive role with us losing Madisyn Gallagher, our season captain.”

The second half was much better and the Lady Panthers put together some dangerous sequences, sans Madilynn Foster who was on the sideline in a boot, but they weren’t able to get on the board.

Marfell took a penalty kick 1:25 into the second half, but in her attempt to pin it just inside the right post it sailed wide.

Perry graduates four seniors: Foster, Vivian Loseke, Gallagher and Marfell. They return seven juniors, including Parker.

Dooley anticipates Parker permanently shifting into a defensive-oriented role, and he’ll look for her to lead next year’s unit. There’s plenty for the soon-to-be seniors to learn from another tough postseason run, too.

“She is very vocal and she knows the game well, so I know she’ll communicate with the girls as a senior and a captain, and help to keep us organized and ready to compete,” Dooley said.

“I think they learned some areas where we can reflect and find some ways to get a little bit stronger to be able to compete with some of these teams that come out of the Atlanta area,” Dooley said. “That was one thing I was just talking about [in the post-game huddle], it’s a learning experience and we need to take a few days and then regroup and see how we can get better.”

UP NEXT

Perry ends their season with a 12-6 overall record, and an 8-0 record and sixth straight Region 1-4A championship, as well as a second round appearance.

Pace Academy advances to the quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of Westminster and Starr’s Mill.