Two losses to Germantown High School in the regular season prepared the New Hope High girls soccer team for everything it was going to face Tuesday night.
The Mavericks didn’t disappoint, either.
Whether it was from the left, right, middle, or the flanks, Germantown attacked from all possible angles in the first 40 minutes and held a 13-0 advantage in shots. The only number that mattered, though, didn’t reflect that dominance, as the teams went to halftime tied 0-0.
For New Hope High senior defender Kayla Smith, that was just the first of several steps she knew her team was going to have to survive to reach its ultimate goal and play for another Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state title.
“We knew who their key players were and we really tried to target them and frustrate them as much as possible,” Smith said. “We tried not to give them any room because we knew if we gave them a hairline of room they were going to come in. We kept our calm for the most part.”
But New Hope coach Mary Nagy knew from those two defeats that her players also had to protect against corner kicks. But when you’re facing wave after wave of pressure, it’s nearly impossible for a defense never to allow the ball to cross the endline.
Nagy’s worst fears were realized in the 45th minute, when Madeline Porter worked through a sea of bodies in the box to get a foot on a corner kick by Avery Robinson to give Germantown a 1-0 victory and a spot in the Class 5A state championship.
Germantown (11-7-3) will face reigning champion West Jones, which defeated Pearl in penalty kicks, at 3 p.m. Saturday at Madison Central High.
New Hope, which lost to West Jones 2-0 last season in the 2014 Class 5A state title match, ends its season at 9-6-1.
“My favorite saying during a soccer game to coach Will (Taylor) is, ‘I hate corners,’ ” Nagy said. “When we went to Germantown, we gave them nine corners, one of which was a goal for them. We told them if we could keep them off the line for corners, you’re going to win. We did that pretty well in the first half. In the second half, we gave them seven corners, one of which was the winning score.”
Porter said the Mavericks don’t have a set plan whether they go short or if the kicker tries to deliver the ball into the box. Prior to the goal, Germantown had another corner kick in which Robinson played the ball short to a teammate who came on a diagonal run from the box. That set didn’t work, but it resulted in another kick. On that one, Porter said she didn’t use a secret sign to signal a play and that she had confidence Robinson was going to place the ball where it needed to be.
“We have been playing for so long. I actually play with Avery in Select, so we just read each other,” Porter said. “She is an excellent player and is really good at placing the ball on crosses and on corner kicks.”
Porter said she collided with goalkeeper Mackenzie Harvey and the ball deflected off someone and bounced out, enabling her to get laces on it.
“The biggest thing is just keeping it low and not falling backward and shanking it,” Porter said.
Germantown coach Matt Cox said the players have the option of picking a short or a long corner kick based on the nature of the defense and the flow of the game. He credited New Hope for its defense and for its late push that had him anxious on the far sideline in the final minutes. He said the victory was the culmination of a year’s worth of work following a loss to Lewisburg in the second round of the playoffs in 2014.
“It’s frustrating when they don’t get their way and they’re trying so hard to do something,” Cox said. “They were hitting shots over and wide, and New Hope was doing a great job of defending. It just kind of wore us down. At halftime, they were very, very frustrated. The word we talked about at halftime was staying composed and making sure we stayed patient and continued to work hard and stick to the plan.”
Smith said there was nothing the Lady Trojans really could have done — except not give up the corner kicks — to prevent the goal. She said she was proud of her team’s effort and communication in denying nearly every attack. Smith, Bethany Vaughan, and Abby Wilson covered for each other, while Harvey (14 saves) was behind them to scoop up dangerous crosses or to smother loose balls in the box.
“I could tell (they were getting frustrated) because their key players were passing it out wide a lot more, which is where we like to trap them down,” Smith said. “That was really good knowing we were actually doing something right.”
Smith said New Hope had three girls on the near post (the right one) and they all attempted to head the ball away. She said Porter just happened to be in “the right place at the right time” and managed to kick the ball just over Harvey’s fingertips.
Nagy said the defense was pretty much “lights out” in the first half. She also said New Hope nearly had the script go according to plan in the final two minutes of the first half, when senior forward Effie Morrison led a counter attack and sent a pass down the center of the field to Samantha Vogel. But the pass was a half step to a step too far in front of Vogel, which allowed the goalkeeper to beat her to the ball and knock it away.
New Hope had its best pressure in the final 25 minutes. The Lady Trojans moved Smith from her center back position and dropped junior Miaya Richardson into her spot to give her the freedom to attack. New Hope wasn’t able to maintain the pressure, though, as it missed Morrison on a throw-in when she might have had space to work. Vogel also couldn’t tee up a shot near the top of the box with about 16 minutes to go.
Vogel had New Hope’s only shot, a left-footer from about 40 yards, that they goalkeeper knocked away for a corner kick with about 15 minutes to go.
While it was disappointing to see her prep soccer career end, Smith said she was proud of the way the Lady Trojans ended their season. She was a mainstay in a senior class that was part of the foundation New Hope drew from to get its first playoff victory, then its second, and then its third to play for the first state title in program history. She is confident that she and seniors Vaughan, Wilson, Morrison, and Samantha Vogel helped set an example the younger players will follow to keep the program at a high level.
“It is definitely a lot harder, but I am kind of glad we got to finish at home and we had a lot of people to support us when we were here,” Smith said. “I would rather finish like this knowing we left it all on the field than have any question in our mind we could have given it a little more. Getting beat 1-0 rather than 2-0 makes us feel a little better, but it is still hard not making it all of the way to where we wanted to make it.”
Nagy agreed and said New Hope’s defense started to wear on Germantown. In 5-0 and 3-0 losses in district play, New Hope didn’t have a healthy lineup, so Nagy knew her team had a chance if it stayed with its game plan. The Lady Trojans did just that only to see a corner kick foil their intentions.
“For the girls to constantly dig the whole time and never quit, it just goes to show that this team is nothing but character and integrity,” Nagy said.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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