'We know what we want': Tate girls soccer advances to semifinals after win against Milton
A rainy and cold night played into the Tate girls soccer team’s favor.
While neither Aggies assistant coach Kendall Blackmon nor Milton head coach Mary Murphy said the weather was a “major factor” in the game, it caused some separation between the teams.
A weird shot from Tate’s Gianna Smart skipped off the ground weirdly into Milton goalie Paityn Settlemires, and trickled into the net. That goal was the dagger in Tate’s 3-0 win on Wednesday in the District 1-6A quarterfinals at Carl Madison Field inside Pete Gindl Stadium, according to Murphy.
“In these types of games, a skip of a ball or a slip of a foot, every little thing matter,” Murphy said.
And once the Aggies adjusted to what the wet field conditions were going to bring, it aided their offense.
“It was kind of rolling with the punches. We told them at the (first) water break that the ball was going to skip. You’ve got to take chances,” Blackmon said. “As long as you get it on frame, good things are going to happen. … They listened to us really well tonight.”
“Once we adjusted to the fact that the weather was going to change the game a bit, it definitely helped,” said Tate senior Cora Helmig said. “We learned how to control the ball better.”
All three of Tate’s goals came in the first half. Helmig opened the scoring with a laser from the top of the penalty area with 21 minutes, 8 seconds left in the half. Then Smart added her score a few minutes later.
Goalkeeper Gabriella Smart, on a penalty kick after Milton was called for a hand ball in the penalty area, rounded out the scoring with 13:15 left in the half. It was the first time Smart has been called upon for a penalty kick this year, she said.
“That moment meant a lot to me. You can’t give away where you’re going to go as a goalkeeper. As a keeper myself, I know that,” Gabriella Smart said. “You’ve got to step in when you know that moment’s coming up and put it away when you can.”
A scoreless second half ended Milton’s (5-6-4) season in the district quarterfinals. Murphy is remaining optimistic, however. All but four of her 17 players are underclassmen. Now, she wants them to remember the “feeling” of the loss.
“We played Tate to a tie on Friday and then, minus a couple mistakes, it was a 0-0 second half. It’s unfortunate. But honestly, I’m proud of the girls and the way they battled in the second half,” Murphy said. “Just to remember this feeling of being this close to being in the semifinals and playing the big dogs of Pace, Navarre and Gulf Breeze. … Going forward, we can battle with (Tate), it just has to be a full game.”
Tate (10-3-1), the fourth seed in the district tournament, is now riding a four-game unbeaten streak, spanning back to Jan. 11. Three of those four games have been shutouts, the only non-shutout coming to the hands of Milton last Friday, a 1-1 tie.
Tate will play No. 1 Navarre at Ashton Brosnaham Athletic Park on Friday. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Raiders beat Tate earlier in the year on Jan. 3, 3-1, in Navarre.
“We take it one game at a time. We are who we are, and we know what we want,” Blackmon said. “As long as we institute our gameplan, we’ll be fine.”
“We need to keep going and not look back at any scores we might’ve had in the past,” Gabriella Smart said. “We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
Here are a couple takeaways from the game.
‘Set the tempo first’
You couldn’t have gone 10 seconds without hearing Tate head coach Jason Providence yell one thing from the sidelines.
“Pressure!”
Right from the start, Tate’s goal was to set the tempo of the game. The Aggies limited how often Milton entered its offensive half of the field, while laying on the pressure and finding the back of the net a trio of times.
The Panthers were forced to merely clear the ball several times while holding on against Tate’s offense, which, in 14 games, has now scored 60 goals on the season.
“If we set the tempo first, and the other team has to match it, then it’s good if we get out ahead because it’s tough to deal with it,” Blackmon said. “Don’t get me wrong, Milton is a great team and they’re very aggressive, but the girls had to bring their energy. It’s a different dynamic than what we’re used to.”
Even when Milton found its way into the offensive half of the field, especially in the second frame of the game, Gabriella Smart said there was a lot of “communication” between her and the Aggie defenders, making sure players were where they needed to be to preserve the shutout.
“I thought our back line was spectacular tonight. It starts with our goalkeeper. She got everyone where they needed to be,” Blackmon said. “Our centerbacks matched up, and everyone played well.”
Planning on defense
Murphy was happy that her team shutout the Aggies in the second half. But by that point, the damage had been done.
Going into Wednesday’s matchup, Murphy said the Panthers’ gameplan all along was to play defense. Milton had limited chances and opportunities in the first half, which Murphy said was a little frustrating.
The problem was Milton let Helmig get “too much of the ball,” leading to the opening goal.
“We had to shutdown Cora. … But Cora did what Cora does, and she scores. I was happy for her and everything like that, but at the same time, our goal was to defend,” Murphy said. “We defended pretty well minus letting Cora get too much of the ball.”
Going against a tough team like Tate, Murphy noted it was going to come down to the team who was “going to battle” and “find way.”
“It’s end-of-the-year high school soccer, and it’s not pretty. … It’s not easy, especially in this environment. These are the games that the girls are going to remember, however,” Murphy said. “I want them to take away the fact that they did compete and it was a 0-0 second half.”
Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Tate girls soccer beats Milton in District 1-6A quarterfinals at Tate
