Mary Nagy can tuck those slow starts away and put them to rest now that the New Hope High School girls soccer team is going to play for a state title.
Buoyed by one of its fastest starts of the season against a quality opponent, New Hope scored two goals in the first half and then held on through what must have felt like the slowest 40 minutes in history to beat Lewisburg 2-1 in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State championship match.
The victory sends New Hope (11-2-1) into its first state title match against West Jones, which defeated South Jones 3-2, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Clinton High.
“I told them before we left my room (in New Hope High) I wanted to walk away with at least a two-goal lead because one wasn’t enough for my heart,” Nagy said. “I told them I can’t take a 1-0 game or a 0-0 game. We have to come out and put the ball together at our feet and play Lady Trojan soccer. We need to get ourselves comfortable in that position yourself and put yourself in that lead so you can be settled because we had prematch jitters pretty badly, as I am sure the other team did. I told the girls they had to turn those nerves and adrenaline into something positive, and that they were to use those nerves in being first to the ball and in their kicks and making sure they were sharp in putting the ball tot he feet. I told them when we left my room that this is your time and you are here because you earned it and no one can take it away.”
New Hope did just that, delivering its best first half in the playoffs and shaking off the memory of its performance against Vicksburg in the first round in which it fell behind 4-1 at halftime. In that match, Effie Morrison scored four goals in the second half to help the Lady Trojans beat a district champion for the fourth season in a row. New Hope followed that match with a better start against Oxford in an eventual victory in a penalty kick shootout.
But neither match compared to the start New Hope had against Lewisburg, which eliminated Region 2 rival and champion Germantown.
“I think we really had our eyes on the prize this time, and we weren’t letting anybody get in the way of it,” New Hope junior defender Kayla Smith said. “We have had team eatings, which have helped us come together. We are constantly mingling with each other and connecting with each other. We all want this really bad.”
Morrison made sure New Hope capitalized on its possession and aggressive play with the first goal. Siri Solem had possession on the back post and appeared to attempt a shot or a pass. The ball deflected and came to a stop untouched in the box, which gave Morrison time to crash in.
“Siri (Solem) had it and I was yelling her name, just like in the Vicksburg game,” Morrison said. “I was yelling and yelling, and finally she touched it to me. We were only like a foot and a half from each other, but I had the better angle. I knew I had to take it with my left foot real quick, so I turned as soon as she passed it. I tried to curve it around the defender, but it chipped off the defender’s shin and got a little more spin, and gave it a little more spin to get into the goal.”
Morrison said she was trying to put spin on the shot anyway, but she said the deflection off the defender added even more spin that propelled the ball into the back of the net.
Morrison, a junior captain, said the Lady Trojans had been waiting for the game, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed by rain, for a long time and were focused on coming out faster, especially after hearing Nagy and assistant coach Will Taylor preach to them about the danger of slow starts.
“We had a lot of confidence. That helped out a lot,” Morrison said. “Hanging out together more these past few days has helped out a lot. We have been laid back and not so tensed up with each other. We knew we could work together tonight. Nobody said it, but we felt it. I knew in everybody’s heart it was tonight.”
The Lady Trojans tacked on the all-important insurance goal with less than four minutes remaining in the half. Morrison played the ball in to the back post, where Samantha Vogel went up for a header with a defender. Vogel said the ball went between her head and the defender’s head and somehow found its way into the back of the net.
“I don’t know which one of us it hit off last because there was so much adrenaline,” Vogel said. “I thought me and her hit heads at first. Then I heard everyone screaming and I looked in and it was straight in the corner.”
Vogel was one of a cast of walking wounded for the Lady Trojans. Even though she said she woke up Wednesday morning feeling sick with strep throat-like symptoms, she said there was no question she was going to play against Lewisburg. She carried through on that promise by playing for short stretches and popping cough drops to keep her throat numb.
Just when New Hope might have thought it could relax, Lewisburg cut the lead in half on a goal by Harlie Ray with less than two minutes before halftime. The goal sapped New Hope’s momentum and created for a few anxious moments during the intermission.
“It was a lot more pressure, but I think it helped a lot that it happened in the first half because they could calm us down when we came back in here,” Smith said. “I think we all matured a lot tonight and grew as a team and we stayed calm through everything.”
New Hope countered Lewisburg’s momentum by moving Morrison from midfield to stopper. In the first half, New Hope assistant coach Will Taylor moved Ashley Martian from the middle back to stopper to help protect the lead. Nagy said the coaches saw Martian start to creep back up to the midfield at several points in the first half, so they opted to make a switch at halftime. Nagy said the coaches felt Morrison’s ability to direct traffic and to communicate with her teammates would serve the team well.
“When they said, ‘Stopper,’ I hadn’t heard stopper in a long time,” Morrison said. “I was like, ‘Oh God, what do I do?’ I asked Kayla (Smith), ‘What do I do?’ Kayla helped me out tremendously, and I just relayed it to (goalkeeper) Mac(kenzie Harvey) and we just got the right angles on everything and we talked to each other. It made it a lot easier.”
The move turned out to be a wise one because Lewisburg (14-4) held an 11-1 edge in shots. The Patriots pushed the Lady Trojans into their half of the field for nearly all of the final 40 minutes. New Hope had one chance with about 14 minutes to go, when Vogel nearly connected with Miaya Richardson on a diagonal pass in front of the goalkeeper. New Hope also had a one-minute surge into Lewisburg territory with 10 minutes remaining. Other than those periods and the final two minutes, Lewisburg attacked from every angle but could get the equalizer.
“We didn’t put it in the back of the net,” Lewisburg coach Danielle Evans said. “The whole second half, like you said, we possessed 39 minutes of it and their goalkeeper made some great saves. We just were unlucky.”
Lewisburg assistant coach Patricia Galbraith said the Patriots took time in the first half to adjust to the field, which had patches of standing water in front of their bench, and to the Lady Trojans. She said that adjustment period allowed New Hope to seize the momentum with the first two goals.
In the end, the adjustment period played a role in the outcome thanks to New Hope’s ability to create chances in the first half.
“That second goal was completely unlucky for us,” Evans said. “I didn’t feel like it was earned. The first goal was earned. It was right in the middle of the field, but the second goal I felt like it was kind of a ricochet and it landed at their feet. It is unfortunate for us.”
For New Hope, the victory was a celebration of a journey that started in 2010 with the program’s first playoff appearance. The Lady Trojans earned what Nagy believes is their first playoff victory a year later (against Oxford). The team won first-round playoff matches the next two seasons as it matured, but it couldn’t get past Ridgeland in the second round. After clearing that hurdle against Oxford and making more history Wednesday night, New Hope is focused on having another fast start to write another chapter in the best season in school history.
“It is surreal,” Nagy said. “I feel like I am in a fog, and I would tell you to pinch me, but I don’t think it would work. I think I would need a baseball bat instead. We have worked tirelessly. Will has worked tirelessly, more than I have because I missed part of the season with surgery. He has got those girls ready. It is just his diligence and his patience and his pushing those girls and demanding they give him everything they have when they are on the field. That is a tribute to him more than anything.
“I think that is evidence of the maturity. We have also had that youth and they crumble because they couldn’t handle that pressure. Now we are junior heavy and we have a few seniors and a couple of sophomores that are handling that pressure. They have been starting since the seventh and eighth grade, so they don’t crack under pressure and they have learned to handle that.”
Said Vogel, “We are just ready,” Vogel said. “We know this is our year. We’re going to go all of the way.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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