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#10 Pinecrest vs Hoggard Wednesday, May 21st, 2003 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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#10 Pinecrest vs Hoggard Wednesday, May 21st, 2003 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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| The Wilmington Hoggard girls’ soccer team hopped on the bus after taking exams Wednesday for the 115-mile trip to Pinecrest and a third-round state playoff match. When the opening bell rang, the visitors were ready to play and the Patriots were not. Forty-one seconds into the match, a corner-kick by the Vikings’ Hillary Flowers was directed into the net off of the thigh of teammate Megan Tootoo. It became 2-0 seven minutes later when a scramble in front of the goal following a cross by Tootoo ended in a goal for Jenna Evans. The two teams played on even terms after that, but Hoggard took home a 3-0 victory. “I guess we weren’t awake the first few minutes, but that definitely woke us up,” Patriot stopper Krystal Haas said referring to the stunning start. “But we’ve come back before and we never gave up. We’re a proud team and we always play with our heads up. We should, we’ve got a lot to be proud of.” The season ended for the Mid-Southeastern Conference champions with a record of 20-2-1. Hoggard, 17-6-1 and the second seed from the Mideastern Conference, has an intra-league date Saturday with Jacksonville (18-2-1), the champion of that league. The two teams split during the regular season. Pinecrest made several first half bids to get the goal that might have changed the momentum. In the ninth minute a long throw-in by Stephanie Carter was received by Sara Cole and flicked over the goal. Midway through the half, the hustle of Holly Thompson helped keep the Viking goal under siege for an extended period. In the Patriots best chance of the night, the sophomore’s header hit the center bar and teammate Erin Cooper fired the rebound over the goal. Hoggard coach John Teller said that an early lead can sometimes work against a team. “It can either set up the rest of the game or it can give you a false sense of what’s going on and you could fall right through the door,” he said. “Certainly the way Pinecrest came back and put pressure on us throughout the game, we were fortunate to be organized enough in the back to not give them a lot of great chances. They certainly moved the ball down the field against us.” There were few serious threats scoring threats by either side in the second half. But in the 57th minute, Tootoo broke loose in transition and beat Patriot goalkeeper Katelyn Burwell one-on-one for the goal that ended any remaining Pinecrest hopes for a comeback. Pinecrest received a first-round bye and defeated New Hanover 2-0 last Saturday to earn its first-ever third-round state playoff appearance. Patriot coach Lorna Martin struggled for an explanation for her team’s slow start Wednesday. “Maybe it was the early starting time (6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.),” she said. “We just weren’t with it tonight, we weren’t playing together. I’m mad, and they (the players) should be mad too. We could have done better and we should have done better — and we will.” The game was the finale for seniors Heather Barnes, Cooper, Nikki Jones, Toni Giangrande, Jenn Schroeder and Catlynne Arreguin. During their four years, the team compiled a record of 75-12-3 overall and 50-3-1 in league play. “This game doesn’t take away from all of their accomplishments this season,” the Patriot coach said. “And the future looks bright.” <-Previous 5-17-03 vs New Hanover (Second Round, State Tourn. W, 2-0) |