Texas High girls lose; Mount Pleasant boys win

Lady Tigers struggle, shut out by Mesquite Poteet, 3-0

MESQUITE, Texas—Texas High’s offense never got going against Mesquite Poteet on Friday.

The Lady Pirates controlled the ball and the clock, turning a 1-0 halftime lead into a 3-0 victory over the Lady Tigers in a Class 5A bi-district girls soccer match at Mesquite Memorial Stadium.

Poteet (18-4) advances to the area round to play Prosper next week. Texas High ends its season at 16-6-3.

“We came up on the wrong side of it tonight; I thought we just never got settled,” Tigers coach Dustin Holly said. “They did a good job of pressuring us in the midfield and getting stuff going up top. I wish we would have got settled down a little more.”

The Pirates finished with 32 attempts, with 16 of those on goal.

Texas High had a chance to equalize in the 43rd minute as Rachael Shewmaker fed a through-ball to Mya Bowers, but under duress from a defender and charging Poteet goalie, Bowers’ shot bounced off the left upright and out of bounds.

Jamie Fowler fired a Pirate goal in the 55th minute from 20 yards out to stake the home team to a 2-0 lead.

In the 68th minute, Gabby

Gomez headed a corner from Maddie Keheley into the back post for the final Poteet goal.

Off a counter-attack after a yellow card to a Pirate player in the final minute of the first half, Poteet was able to break the scoreless tie on its 15th attempt of the match.

Marissa Berry fought off a defender and took a touch before rolling the ball into the right corner of the net for the Pirates in the 40th minute, just 7 seconds before intermission.

The goal was set up by a 1-touch feed from Keheley to Berry, waiting in the middle of the Tiger defense.

Texas High had the chances early, but from there Poteet held much of the possession and the momentum.

“We had some chances early and had a lot of luck with the PK miss and another off the bar,” Holly said. “And you’ve got to have that in some games. I was happy with the year; it’s been a fun group of kids.”

Keheley had a penalty in the 19th minute, but the shot sailed harmlessly high over the crossbar.

In the 32nd minute Keheley fired a cross in from the left wing that was redirected towards the goal by a fellow Pirate, but the ball rebounded off the crossbar. Another shot was taken, only to be saved at the goal line by a THS defender.

Poteet had five shots on goal in their 15 attempts in the half, and the Tigers managed just three tries.

It was the final game for Shewmaker and fellow Texas High senior Mary Miller. Shewmaker, who finished the year with 26 goals and 14 assists, is the career goal scorer with 82 goals.

“Rachael Shewmaker has put in so much work in this program since the 6th grade,” Holly said. “We’re going to miss her and Mary Miller too. She’s put in a lot of work too. We’ve got a young core back, just losing two off tonight’s roster, so we can build. We know against this district is what it’s going to have to be.”