Learning to win
Houston girls soccer coach David Wolff said his team will have to learn to win the close ones if it’s to match — or surpass — the efforts of last year’s team that went 21-1-2 and finished second in the state in Class AAA.
They got a good lesson in doing just that on Aug. 25.
Paola Ellis’ second-half goal gave the Mustangs a 1-0 victory over ECS in a game played on the brandnew turf field at Houston’s Landers Stadium. The Mustangs are now 3-0 on the year, outscoring their opponents by a combined 14-0.
“If we’re going to win state, this can’t be the norm,” said Wolff. “We’re not going to be able to just score, score, score.
“We’re looking for leadership that was here last year that’s not here now, and it’s going to take a lot of character (to find it). Players are looking around like, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to lead now.’ We still have to figure things out.”
The match was moved due to an open house at the Mustangs’ usual home, Houston Middle School. And at times it looked like the advantage favored ECS, which plays on turf at home.
“The ball moves slower,” said Ellis, a junior who has committed to Ole Miss. “You make your run and the ball’s not where you expect it. But I’m not going to blame the field ... we just weren’t focused.”
ECS (2-1) created some good chances early before the Mustangs began to find their way. Early in the second half, Ellis banged one off the cross bar, and a few minutes later Taylor White did the same thing with a free kick.
Sixty-two minutes in, Houston freshman Jenna Kemp forced a great save from ECS keeper Sarah Houpt before Houston’s Mary Parker Powell came up with an even better one to deny Molly Martin. The goal came four minutes later when Ellis — a Pepsi Best of the Preps player of the year finalist — got to Gabby Little’s flick just a split-second before the charging Houpt and poked it into the net.
“Both teams had a number of chances, and I think both teams will look back and say they should have won,” said ECS coach Jordan Thompson. “We expected to come in and compete with them ... we played with a lot of heart but you can’t stay with a team like that on just heart alone. You have to have talent.”
As Kammy McGee was preparing to re-enter the action late in Thursday’s soccer game between Super Six teams Briarcrest and Collierville, she got a bit of advice from her coach, Brittany Streger.
“Go right to the goal,” Streger told the speedy sophomore. “Go right to the goal and get you one.”
McGee followed her coach’s instructions right to the letter, getting on the end of a great cross from Lindsay Hale to score the winner with about 10 minutes left as host Collierville, ranked third, remained undefeated with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the second-ranked Saints.
“She doesn’t say a word, but she smiles a lot,” said Streger of McGee. “She’s always ‘yes, ma’am. No ma’am.’ She does what you tell her.”
McGee’s winner gave a Collierville team with only five seniors on the roster its fourth straight win to start the year. Briarcrest lost for the first time after opening with five consecutive victories.
“The ball was crossed over and I just stuck out my left foot and aimed it at the corner (post),” said the right-footed McGee. “We just came together and worked as a team.”
Even more impressive was the fact the Dragons were missing two injured starters on the back line. Except for an early miscommunication that allowed Brittany Hatmaker to break through clean and score Briarcrest’s opener 13 minutes in, it was a terrific defensive effort.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Streger. “We had to start a freshman (Allison Morrison) back there. The first five minutes, we were flying but after they scored we had to reorganize.”
Said Briarcrest coach Alexis Heinz, “Collierville played well. They took the players out of the game that they needed to take out. They took our strengths away; I was really impressed with them.”
After Hatmaker made it 1-0, Collierville went into halftime tied thanks to a bit of luck. About five minutes before the break, Sarah Balkcom took a corner that eluded everyone and ended up in the back of the net.
“We changed things at halftime and I felt like we’d have a chance,” said Streger. “I thought, ‘We’re gonna score. It’s gonna come.’ ”
CROSS COUNTRY JAMBOREE
Collierville’s Adam VanDeren won the boys race at the West Tennessee Cross Country League jamboree at Shelby Farms, finishing in a time of 16:54.1 to beat out St. Benedict’s Ray Wynne by five seconds.
Meghan Underwood of St. Benedict won the girls race, finishing in 20.09.1. Sammy Brainard of Collierville was second (20.12.2).