By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
When the top four girls’ soccer teams in this week’s Shreveport-Bossier Journal Coaches’ Poll squared off in midweek, 1 vs. 4 and 2 against 3, fans hoped for the same level of intense competition that the recent college football playoff semifinals provided.
Sometimes wishes do come true. Two excellent, highly-competitive contests unfolded, with one goal and perhaps the homefield edge making the difference in both.
Wednesday No. 2 Loyola traveled to No. 3 Byrd, falling to the Lady Jackets 3-2, after No. 4 Benton went to No. 1 Shreve a night earlier and fell by the same score. Competitive girls soccer is alive and well in the Shreveport Bossier area, and those games proved it.
There was the usual large crowd at Byrd of local fans excited for a quality game. Kudos to Byrd for adding the new visitor stands, which made watching the game so much more enjoyable.
The play started with both teams pushing the ball up the field, but not committing large numbers forward to let themselves be vulnerable to the counter attack. Throughout the first half, both teams seemed to have great opportunities to get shots off, but never could get that perfect shot, resulting in either weaker shots both goalies could stop easily, or shots off target.
This changed when Byrd was awarded a corner kick. Senior Natalie Dvorakova hit a strong bending ball in the crowded box, and it found Myjoi Anderson, giving the Lady Jackets the 1-0 halftime lead.
Loyola came out of halftime with new life, as the Lady Flyers took possession and pushed the ball forward, but were not able to get that final strike to put a ball in the net. This intensity stayed around for a while. Byrd did have some chances as well, also being unable to unleash a solid final shot. Byrd earned another corner kick, and this time Dvorakova’s corner found Katie Miller for a 2-0 lead. This created a shift of overall play to Byrd.
With about 10 minutes left, Dvorakova had the ball going up the left side, when her cross found Kalli Cosse, who put the Lady Jackets up 3-0.
This reignited the Lady Flyers, who pushed large numbers forward, and within a few minutes Grace Weiford passed the ball to Ainsley Matlock, who got Loyola on the board. The attack didn’t stop, as Coach Mark Matlock pushed his center defender and Louisiana Tech commit Mary Helen Burford into the attack. With four minutes left, this paid off as Burford hit a no-doubter into the back of the net. The game still had life at 3-2. The Lady Jackets were able to keep the ball out of their goal area just long enough for time to run out.
Tuesday the very young Benton team traveled to Caddo Field for a district game against Shreve, in a rematch of their contest weeks ago at the Gator Cup, with the Lady Gators prevailing 2-1.
From the beginning it was obvious that the Lady Tigers were in no way intimidated by Shreve. Maybe it was just youthful exuberance, but Benton took it straight at the Lady Gators. They were able to turn that aggression into their first lead over Shreve in many years when Eryn Flowers passed the ball to Eden Whiteman, who didn’t miss. There was an uneasy feeling throughout the home crowd.
With a little over 10 minutes left in the half, Shreve’s Ella Grace Davis took a free kick from 40-plus yards out, and as she did in their Byrd victory, she put it in the upper 90, just out of the reach of Benton’s keeper, Ava Moore. The half ended 1-1, with the buzz in the stands that the last 40 minutes were going to be a battle.
The Lady Gators took less than two minutes into the second half to grab their first lead of the game, when Maddie Penwell found an open Maddie Aubrey for a 2-1 lead. The Gator faithful took a sigh of relief. That relief lasted possibly 40 seconds before Jen Willis scored a game-tying unassisted goal.
The deadlock lasted over 25 minutes as the ball kept going up and down the field, with both teams having chances and both Moore and Lady Gators keeper Avery Watson making a couple crucial saves. With 12 minutes left in the game, Aubrey put Shreve up for good with her second goal, this time assisted by Isabella Hamilton.
Benton kept the pressure on but was just not able to equalize the game. They did, however, announce for all that the Lady Tigers are a force teams are going to have to deal with for years to come.
Contact David at dersoff@bellsouth.net