SALTILLO — New Hope High School senior defender Kayla Smith spent a large majority of Tuesday night’s playoff match against Saltillo encouraging her teammates to calm down.
However, when Saltillo’s Ashley Harman hit the crossbar on the final shot attempt of a shootout, calmness was no longer necessary.
New Hope players mobbed one another at midfield and celebrated a dramatic 4-3 victory in penalty kicks to start its North State title defense in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A playoffs at Willis Wright Stadium. The teams were tied 1-1 following regulation, two 10-minute overtime periods, and two five-minute overtime periods.
“When each period ended, we just wanted to get back to the sidelines and get calmed back down,” Smith said. “That match was so exciting and so intense. I think we were a little too hyped at times. I just kept thinking, ‘Let’s get back to the sidelines. Let’s get on to the kicks.’ I knew then we had it.”
New Hope will play host to Center Hill in the second round of the playoffs Saturday. Four matches are needed to win the state championship. A year ago, New Hope won three before falling to West Jones in its first appearance in the state championship.
“We had a lot of fifth- and sixth-year players on the field,” New Hope coach Mary Nagy said. “I thought that was really the big difference in the match. We beat a great team on their home field. You really felt there as the match got deeper and it was really up there for the taking — I just felt like we had a lot of experience on the field.
“We had players who have played together. They know one another so well. You could tell we had that extra bit of confidence you get from experience. It really helped us get over the top.”
New Hope has won four of its past five playoff openers in extra time.
“The experience really helped us a lot,” New Hope senior defender Bethany Vaughan said. “We have been in these overtime situations before. There really wasn’t a doubt in my mind we would win once we got into the overtimes. We struggled early, but we knew all along this was something we could do.”
New Hope went first to start the five rounds of penalty kicks. Senior Effie Morrison hit her try and was matched by Saltillo. Abby Wilson hit the second kick for New Hope, while junior keeper Mackenzie Harvey made the eventual game-winning stop in goal. On the third try, New Hope failed but Saltillo’s Shelby Bickes answered. New Hope’s Samantha Vogel and Saltillo’s Karoline Joggars scored in the fourth round to make it 3-3.
Smith then delivered the biggest kick of New Hope’s season. She knew the pressure of the kick, but she also believed in her ability to get the job done, and responded with a line drive into the corner of the net.
“I told the ball it had to go in,” Smith said.
If Harman delivered a similar message, the ball didn’t listen. With Harvey fully stretched out to stop it, the ball glanced off the top of the net and bounced over the football goal post behind.
“That was a great relief and the perfect way to end a great match,” Vaughan said. “We worked so hard to get to this point. We just had to stay confident and believe in ourselves.”
New Hope spent most of the match looking for that extra lift.
Joggars scored the first goal for Saltillo at the 10-minute mark. The Lady Tigers came out aggressive on offense and had four shots before Joggars found the range.
New Hope struggled to put together an offensive answer. The Lady Trojans managed two shots on goal in the opening half and failed to move past midfield more than once in the first 20 minutes.
While Saltillo held a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal in the half, the lead was only 1-0 at halftime.
“The story of the match was the defensive back line,” Nagy said. “That group has been together four, five, six years. It’s like staying at one another’s house. They know each other so well. They are ready for every move.”
The back line of Smith, Wilson, and Vaughan kept the Lady Trojans afloat. Harvey also solid in goal. Junior Brooke Wilson and freshman Hannah Turner also turned in masterful performances in the midfield.
New Hope finally found its offensive rhythm in the second half and held the better of the activity for the final 25 minutes. Still, the match wasn’t even until Morrison scored from about 20 yards out in the 61st minute.
The score seemingly opened the floodgates, as New Hope had seven shots on goal in the final 16 minutes of regulation. The left-footed Vogel narrowly missed a nifty baseline shot. Seconds later, Morrison missed a potential game-winner by inches on a breakaway attempt.
Overtime didn’t settle matters. Each of the extra periods featured ebbs and flows in momentum, as each team missed scoring chances and relied on strong defensive play.
“We knew we were in for a fight,” Nagy said as she tried to regain her emotions. “We had 11 or 12 girls who had that experience of going into overtimes, going into PKs. I can’t be more proud of a group of girls. They were exhausted, but they dug deep. This is a heart-breaking way to lose and see your season end and, fortunately, we didn’t have to feel that way.”
Now New Hope can turn its thoughts to a second-round match in warmer weather and in front of a large crowd at home. Center Hill scored in the final 30 seconds to force extra play and then beat Vicksburg on penalty kicks Tuesday night.
“We just have to keep it going,” Vaughan said. “Everybody is really excited. Tomorrow it’s time to get ready for the next one.”
Boys Soccer
n Saltillo 3, New Hope 0: The Trojans saw their season end with a first-round loss in the Class 5A playoffs in the second match of the night.
“We never could get in sync,” New Hope first-year coach Kyle Watson said. “We really struggled to get into an offensive flow, and that was kind of surprising, to be honest. We competed, and we were right there, but we couldn’t put together a sustained threat.”
New Hope will lose five seniors. Reed Stillman, Jonathan Gwathney, J.D. Earhart, Wells Davis, and Blake Hardin played in their final high school matches.
“The penalty kick right before halftime (that gave Saltillo a 2-0 halftime lead) was really huge,” Watson said. “That changed the momentum in the match because we were really battling on even terms. The seniors gave us some great leadership and did a great job of making sure we got back to the playoffs. There are some positives to build on and we will hopefully carry those positives into next year.”
New Hope, which finishes 4-11-3, had seven shots on goal, including five in the second half.
Saltillo will play Saturday at Ridgeland.
n Caledonia’s Longmire out: Caledonia senior striker James Longmire will miss the remainder of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs after suffering a broken leg Monday in a 4-1 first-round win against Senatobia.
Longmire was injured midway through the first half when he collided with two Senatobia players trying to gain possession of a loose ball.
Caledonia will play Saturday at Corinth in the second round.
n Also Tuesday night, the Caledonia High girls dropped a 9-1 decision to Lafayette County in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The Lady Feds, who trailed 4-0 at halftime, finish the season 8-11-1.
Basketball
n Columbus High sweeps Aliceville: At Columbus, the Lady Falcons and the Falcons earned victories on Tuesday night.
Kayla Rogers had 21 points and 17 rebounds to lead Columbus to a 51-37 victory against Aliceville.
In the boys game, Robert Woodard had 21 points and Cameron Douglas added 15 in a 70-48 victory.
Anfernee Mullins had 13 to lead Aliceville.
Columbus will play host to Corinth on Friday. The game was added to the schedule when Aliceville had to cancel one of its scheduled meetings against Columbus.
n Starkville sweeps West Point: Kelsey Jones had 22 points to lead the Starkville High girls to a 54-46 victory against West Point on Tuesday.
The Lady Yellow Jackets improve to 16-4 with the win.
Starkville won the boys game 60-50.
n Oak Hill Academy splits with Leake Academy: At West Point, the Raiders rallied late in the fourth quarter to earn a 59-52 victory against The Clarion-Ledger’s No.1 team in Class AA of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.
The Leake Academy girls edged Oak Hill Academy 66-64 in overtime.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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