SOCCER: Top-ranked Columbus pulls away to end season for Heritage
For most of the first half last Tuesday night, the Heritage Lady Generals made things tough on the Columbus Blue Devils, the No. 1-ranked team in all of Class 4A.
In the end, however, the visitors were just too good. Columbus, ranked 50th in the nation, built on a narrow 2-0 halftime lead with four consecutive goals midway through the second half before claiming a 6-1 state quarterfinal victory in Boynton. Columbus improved to 20-1 on the season, while Heritage saw its season end with a 13-4 record.
“We knew it was going to be rough,” Heritage coach Marina Lima said. “(Columbus) played really solid soccer, just beautiful. They kept the ball on the ground and kept it moving. It was just great soccer, but we did the best we could.”
Although the Blue Devils controlled the midfield for most of the game, Heritage stood toe-to-toe with the Region 1 champions up until the 18th minute when Vanessa Aviles finally found the net for Columbus. The visitors would add another goal in the 31st minute as Faith Knoedler found the back of the net.
Following intermission, Abby Littleton scored for Columbus in the 48th minute and Claudia Veliz added the fourth goal in the 55th minute as the Blue Devils increased their offensive pressure. Ashley Sajous would make it 5-0 in the 68th minute before Veliz stunned Heritage with the sixth and final goal on a long kick just seconds after the restart.
However, the Lady Generals continued to fight until the very end and were rewarded in the 76th minute. A free kick by Sophie Roberts from 25 yards out found the crossbar, but dropped right in front of the mouth of the goal. Columbus
keeper Lizzie Hedrick went for the ball, but Heritage defender Allison Craft got there first and was able to tap home the rebound to break up the shutout bid.
“We never quit,” Lima said. “The girls didn’t want to get shut out, so it was nice to get that goal at the end.
Allison came up from left back, followed through and was there at the right time.”
Heritage took five shots on the night with only one shot going on goal. Senior Lexi Besh made 11 saves for the Navy-and-red in her final game in net. It was also the final appearance in a Heritage uniform for the team’s other four seniors, Roberts, Selah Giles, Emily Schoenborn and Sophia Venable.
“Every single senior started this
year,” Lima added. “Sophia’s going to Dalton State, so she’s going to play at a high level and we’re happy for her, but they will all be huge losses, especially at keeper. They all did a great job with leadership. All of the seniors were very encouraging to the underclassmen and just pushed them to be better players and better individuals everyday and I can’t thank them enough for that. I’m lucky. I have a really good group of girls and the blend was great all season long.”