If Starkville Academy girls soccer coach John Morgan learned anything about his team Thursday, it was that the Volunteers just don’t give up.
That was never more evident than in the final 10 minutes against Lamar when, after pulling within a goal with 10 minutes to go, the Vols turned up the pressure and had the visiting Raiders reeling.
But two two-goal deficits were too much to overcome, and the Raiders went back home with a 3-2 victory at the Starkville Sportsplex.
“It was great to see the girls fighting,” Morgan said. “I think that’s the number-one thing. The fact that we took a swing, and yeah, we got hit by two haymakers in the first half, and then we were able to punch back and go down 2-1 in the first half.”
The haymakers Morgan referred to were goals during the 14th and 30th minutes, the first off of a deflection off of the keeper and the second a relatively easy shot from point-blank range. But less than two minutes after the second goal, the Volunteers answered.
A wild scramble off of the first of three Starkville Academy corner kicks late in the first half put the ball on the foot of sophomore Ella Grace McLendon, who was alert enough to put the Vols on the board.
“Mia (Kate Cade) took the corner kick, and I saw it coming my way,” McLendon said. “I think it hit off of someone and then hit a (Lamar) player, and I just kind of hit it. I didn’t think it went in at first.”
“That’s what we tell them,” Morgan said. “If that ball’s bouncing back there, you just put a foot on it. You don’t know what’s going to happen to it. It just so happened that it kind of went over the goalie’s head, and we were OK with it.”
Even more OK was that it was the first goal for McLendon.
“I don’t really get corners often because I usually just stay in the back, so it was nice,” she said.
Before the goal, the ball had spent much of the first half in the Volunteers’ end of the field, and while the Raiders kept drilling the ball, many potential shots never got anywhere near the net, as Starkville Academy defenders blocked blast after blast from 15 to 25 yards out.
“Props to our defense,” Morgan said. “Our defense has always done a heck of a job. They’re able to come in there and step up and help the goalie out to where the goalie doesn’t have to do as much. They can clean up rather than her having to save these World Cup-style shots. The defense takes the role of Secret Service agents and just takes it for her.”
But the Raiders got their two-goal lead back 11 minutes into the second half, converting a corner kick into a goal after the ball crossed the goal line when it wasn’t gathered in after a save.
“We made some mistakes that we’ve probably got to clean up,” Morgan said.
Lamar kept up the pressure for the next several minutes, getting one goal erased on an offsides call and having a potential breakaway stopped by another offsides. The Volunteers seemed out of sync until there were 10 minutes left, when they cashed in on another scramble off of a corner kick.
The ball deflected off of the Lamar keeper’s outstretched arms and found junior Meredith Reed, who calmly fired it low into the net to pull the Volunteers within 3-2.
From then on, Starkville Academy played in a higher gear. The passing was sharper, the players seemed a step quicker, and the Raiders were on their heels. Twice the Volunteers had what looked like quality chances but misfired badly, and Cade put a very long shot just over the crossbar in the closing minutes, but the Raiders held on.
Coming off of a 13-3-2 season — 6-0 in the district — the Raiders were a formidable foe, yet not much separated the teams on the field Thursday.
“I kind of felt like that was the way it was going to be,” Morgan said. “They lost some key players, and so this was going to be the year to jump on them. At the end of the day, one mistake, one second of lack of focus can make the difference.”
And it did, sending the Volunteers to their second loss against five wins. Watson saw enough good things to be upbeat about his team afterward, a feeling magnified by his team’s youth.
“We have two seniors out there playing, we have two juniors out there playing, and then we have a couple of sophomores, but most of those girls out there are freshmen,” he said. “So the fact that they are out there stepping up and making plays is saying a lot about our youth and what we’re doing.”
Young or not, McLendon is confident about the season.
“We can be good, we just have to finish better,” she said. “I think we’re going to be good.”
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Junior Meredith Reed, left, scored with 10 minutes remaining Thursday to pull Starkville Academy within one goal against Lamar at the Starkville Sportsplex. Mike Brown/Special to the Dispatch
