CLINTON — Getting the ball to the endline and crossing it into the middle sounds like a simple plan.
When executed properly, that style of attacking can be deadly.
The West Jones High School girls soccer team showed Saturday following that plan can reap championship rewards.
Payton Roney crashed into the middle and capitalized on two quick feeds from the flanks to lift West Jones to a 2-0 victory against New Hope in the Mississippi Activities Association Class 5A State title match at Clinton High School.
“We knew if we played the game at our tempo we would be successful tonight,” West Jones coach Craig Winship said. “When you are up a goal a minute and a half into the game, it sets the pace.”
Meredith Follis and Julia Berry had the assists on the goals that lifted Winship and the Lady Mustangs (20-2-1) to the program’s third state title.
New Hope, which was making its first appearance in the championship game, finished 11-3-1.
Roney, who will attend Northwestern State (La.), did all of the damage on the scoreboard. She crashed in from the left to collect a pass from Follis and slip it into the lower left corner of the goal 1 minute, 10 seconds into the match.
Roney followed the same path on the second goal. Berry helped set it up with fine work on the right sideline to win the ball, to push it forward, and to send it into the middle. Roney did the rest, tucking it into the lower left corner.
“Our backs stayed up in the crossing tonight,” Winship said. “We worked hard on runs behind the balls so it wasn’t just one girl running into the box, but we staggered two or three runs. I thought they were there tonight. Hats off to New Hope for putting a head on a lot of those balls and getting them out, but it was fantastic.”
West Jones controlled the midfield and won the majority of the 50-50 balls in the first half. The Lady Mustangs connected passes crisply and moved like they were right at home on the artificial turf surface.
Winship said the Lady Mustangs played on artificial turf three or four times this season. He said the current group of seniors — four in all — has played at Clinton High five times in state title matches, so none of the players were going to use the surface as an excuse not to come home with the crown.
New Hope attempted to counter West Jones’ dominance in possession by moving junior Effie Morrison from a flank midfield position into the middle, but that did little in the first half to change the momentum, as West Jones had a 15-0 edge in shots. MacKenzie Harvey made four saves.
“We learned we could compete,” New Hope coach Mary Nagy said. “I think we all had jitters. We knew about their two dominating players in the middle (Roney and Coleman), and on the two goals she slipped right behind our midfield. We tried to fix that at halftime, which apparently we did, but we couldn’t string balls together like we wanted to.
West Jones held such a controlling edge thanks to the midfield play of senior midfielder Beth Coleman, who will play at Southern Mississippi in the fall.
Winship, the former girls soccer coach at Ridgeland High, said Roney and Coleman, who are captains, are the engine behind the Lady Mustangs’ attack.
“They are fantastic,” Winship said. “They are great leaders. They are great players off the field and they are great players on the field.”
New Hope’s first “first “shot” on goal came in the opening minute, when Morrison directed a left-footed strike on goal that was handled well to the left of the frame.
Still, New Hope didn’t stop pressing. The Lady Trojans moved defender Abby Wilson from defender to forward in an attempt to gain a foothold. The move nearly paid dividends thanks to some fine work in the midfield by senior Ashley Martian. Martian took a page from West Jones by possessing the ball for an instant and making a quick transition pass forward to the right. The diagonal pass didn’t allow the defense to recover and gave Wilson a chance to run onto the ball. Wilson beat the defender to the ball and sent New Hope’s best shot on goal, but the goalkeeper smothered it and didn’t allow Morrison a chance at a rebound.
“Mary Nagy has this team going in the right direction,” Winship said. “To see where they have been over the last couple of years and take the huge step to come to state and win North State, it is a fantastic job by her and her staff.”
New Hope junior midfielder Madison Thrasher and Morrison connected on another quick transition later in the half, but the Lady Trojans couldn’t connect enough passes to be a consistent threat in the attacking third.
“Abby is such a physical force,” Nagy said. “She has played forward for us for most of the year. We dropped her back when we needed some more defense, but we knew we needed someone to match up with their defender and Abby wouldn’t be afraid to put a body on them. We have all of the trust with (defenders) Kayla (Smith), Brooke (Younger), and Bethany (Vaughan). It kind of spurred a little comeback. We had some good passes up there with Abby and Effie and Ashley had a real good one from the midfield.”
New Hope, which had its first corner kick with 12 minutes remaining, was outshot 21-2.
“It was indescribable,” Morrison said of playing in the state title match. “There is a first time for everything and you have to take advantage of it, suck it in, and be happy with it no matter the outcome.”
That stat line didn’t discourage Nagy or Morrison after the match. Both talked about using the trip to Clinton as a learning experience and motivation to get back there next season. With only Martian and Erin Robertson as key losses to the team, Nagy and Morrison know the 2014-15 squad can play for another title if it takes the lessons learned from West Jones and applies them to its game.
“We just have to work on little things that we have mastered before and we have to master them,” Morrison said. “We worked on everything they executed tonight, like ball control, first touch is always your best, talking on and off the field.
“It is an experience, and it is going to help show us what level of play we need to be at and what mentality we ned to have when we come to this place next year. Hopefully, we will be prepared to play a quality team like them. We are not far away at all. I think we are right there with them.”
Said Nagy, “We expect to be back. It is just a big experience. I am still a little overwhelmed because my family drove three hours to be here. … It has been a long time since we have had a trophy in the case, so it is a proud moment. I am just even prouder of the fans who filled the stands: former players, coaches, administrators, the boys team, and friends from other schools. It was a huge community involvement. It was wonderful for the girls to see that support.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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