THS plays ranked Mount Pleasant today
TEXARKANA, Texas — Texas High varsity soccer team will look to rebound tonight from a tough road loss Friday against the Longview High School Lobos, 1-4.
The Tigers play Mount Pleasant, another tough foe, at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park at 7 p.m. today. Junior varsity game starts at 5:30 p.m.
MaxPreps lists district opponent Mount Pleasant as being 9-4-4 in all games and 3-1 in district games. It ranks them 15th in Texas Division 5A.
Texas High Soccer Coach Zak McCarthy believes his Tigers are on the cusp of “clawing right through a barrier to greatness.”
His Tigers played well for large portions of their Friday night match at Longview, but they left without a victory for the fifth time this season.
“Sadly the final score doesn’t reflect how well we played,” he said. “However, it does reflect the costly errors we’ve been making.”
Texas High at Longview High
The Tigers came in the match with energy and matched the Lobos — who are ranked 7th in the sate 5A soccer — well. Their undoing came from shaky midfield play and defensive lapses. Despite numerous shots on the offensive end, only one was converted for a Texas High score
The Lobo scoring began in the 14th minute when Longview exploited mistakes by Texas High resulting in a breakaway toward the goal. Texas High defender Seth Trusty stopped the run with a hard tactical foul inside the Tiger penalty area. This foul resulted a penalty kick that was converted for the Lobo’s first goal
Over the next twelve minutes the Tiger defense endured numerous attacking runs by Longview. Texas High goalkeeper, Mat Delk, saved several shots. The Tiger defense also hurried the Longview attackers on other runs to cause errant shots.
The Tiger luck ran out in the 26th minute when Delk saved a shot by Longview only to have the rebound recovered by an unmarked Lobo who shot and scored a goal from just inside the penalty area. With around five minutes remaining in the first half, Longview again took advantage of defensive confusion for it third goal. The Tigers went to half-time with a 3-0 deficit.
The Tigers returned in the second half with better tactical play and an much improved attack. In spite of this the Lobos almost scored on an attack in the 46th minute which was denied by a head saved by Tigers’ defender Aidyn Bennett.
The Tigers’ offense was aided by much better passing. One such combination almost scored in the 54th minute. Sam Tettamanti passed the ball to Austin Miller for a power shot that was saved by the Lobos’ keeper. The Lobos counterattack following this save resulted in a corner kick. The corner-kick was converted for the final Longview goal of the night.
The Tigers did not give up. In the 65th minute, Miller made a shot that passed the Lobo keeper and appeared headed to a goal until a Lobos’ defender saved it off the goal line at that last moment. Undeterred and still seeking the net, the Tigers mounted another attack in the 71st minute when Tettamanti fired a shot in the Lobo net electrifying the Tiger team and the Tigers’ fans that made the trip to Longview.
Longview came back in the same minute with back to back runs. Both runs were stopped by one-handed saves by Delk, who saved another near certain goal with minutes remaining. Still, the final score of 4-1 against a ranked opponent was not the result the Tigers they wanted.
“I believe the tide will turn for us soon, we’ve been putting in outstanding performances, with plenty of quality chances to win games, but we haven’t been taking them and we’ve made some costly errors,” McCarthy said.
In the same way McCarthy thought the Tigers could upset Longview, “I believe the same thing for Mount Pleasant.”
Area Prep Soccer Scores from Friday:
GIRLS
Pleasant Grove – idle
Texas High loss 0-4 vs. Longview
BOYS
Atlanta loss 0-9 at Pleasant Grove Liberty Eylau loss 0-4 at Pittsburg Pleasant Grove win 9-0 vs. Atlanta
Texas High loss 1-4 at Longview