San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Cougars stampede into area round
Senior forwards Emily Hight and Taylor Tommack make for quite the 1-2 punch for the Clark girls soccer team and on Friday night at Farris Stadium, the Cougar duo helped knock out Clemens 9-2 in the opening round of the Class 6A state playoffs.
Hight and Tommack had three goals apiece and along with their respective hat tricks, Hight added another four assists and Tommack had a pair of assists of her own as Clark advanced to next week’s second round against either Round Rock Westwood (12-2-5) or Austin (14-5-1).
“We started very slow, but we got a goal back almost immediately,” said Hight, whose team gave up the match’s opening goal just 52 seconds into the contest. “I don’t think this was our best game, but we won. (Tommack) and I have been working together since we were freshmen, and we both played forward. We also play club (soccer) together and we’ve always worked well together, knowing where each other is going to be and things like that.”
Clemens (10-10-3) struck first just under a minute into the match after Clark (20-3-2) was whistled for a foul about 40 yards out from the Cougars’ goal. On the subsequent direct kick — taken by Emerson Weiler — the ball went off the crossbar, off of Clark’s goalie and a Cougar defender and into the net to give the Buffaloes an early 1-0 lead.
“We had some miscommunications in the back early in the match, but we got them straightened out quickly,” Clark coach Diana Driggers said. “These kids know what giving up an early goal is about. They’re not going to panic and we’re not going to panic on the sidelines. We’re just going to get settled down and play our game.”
Clark came back and tied the match at the 3:13 mark on a goal by Tommack and the just over four minutes later, took a 2-1 lead on a header by Hailey Adams off a corner kick by Tommack. Goals by Tommack at 15:08 and Hight at 19:04 gave the Cougars a 4-1 lead and the match seemed to be on the
verge of turning into a rout. However, the Buffaloes fought back and eventually got a second goal at 36:53 when Weiler found a streaking Sanai Stewart, who blasted a shot into the net to get Clemens back to within 4-2 at halftime.
However, that was as close as the Buffaloes would get. Clark regained control of the match with another Tommack goal at 44:14 to make it 5-2 Cougars and four more goals in a span of less than 13 minutes — two by Hight and single tallies by Karen Wurzbach and Emma Nylund — turned the match into a romp as Clark cruised into the second round of the playoffs.
“At halftime, we talked about things we could do differently,” Driggers said. “We wanted to make sure we maintained possession, secured the back and make sure we win balls in the air. We’re at our best when the ball is at our feet, and we were able to do more of that in the second half.”
Clark came into Friday’s match after some down time in the Cougars’ schedule, and Driggers said she was glad her team was able to get back in action.
“We draw an open date at the end of our district schedule, so it’s been about 10 or 11 days since our last match,” Driggers said. “It was nice to be back on the field, and the kids came out motivated tonight.”
Clark has now won five straight matches and is 11-1-1 in its last 13 contests.
Clemens coach Marissa Wood, whose team came into Friday’s match on a 2-0-1 run in its last three games, said that her team fought hard for all 80 minutes and that’s all she can ask of her players.
“We had some in-match strife with some injuries, but I’m proud of our performance,” Wood said. “We always gave a great effort and to me, these players will always be champs.”