Ragsdale soccer edges rival Southwest 1-0
May 3—HIGH POINT — Ragsdale capitalized on an opportunity and came away with a rivalry win.
The Tigers scored the lone goal of the match in the 41st minute, held on the rest of the way and defeated rival Southwest Guilford 1-0 in Metro 4A Conference girls soccer Thursday at Southwest.
It was Ragsdale's first win at Southwest since 2015.
"It was a good battle," Tigers coach Brien Braswell said. "We held in there, held in there. And that's soccer.
"Everything's tough in this conference. You play for a stalemate, hope you get a lucky break and keep them out of the goal."
Caroline Van Thillo scored off a throw-in by Claire Johnson just after halftime. The ball went out along the right sideline, and Johnson tossed a long throw-in near the penalty area. Van Thillo's contested shot from amid a crowd arced just over the goalkeeper's hands.
From there, it was all about not letting the Cowgirls score.
"We laid an egg against Northwest — we were scared of the ball," Braswell said. "And we had another big, long talk — you can't be scared of the ball, it's half of soccer. We won the ball out of the air today. You can't be timid in this game. We were up for the task."
Kyah Outlaw finished with five saves for Ragsdale (8-8-2 overall, 4-7-1 conference), coming off a win against Southeast Guilford and a tie against Grimsley last week before losing to first-place Northwest Guilford on Tuesday.
Laurel Collins had two saves for Southwest (8-9-1, 5-5-1) as each team finished with seven shots. The Cowgirls, who won the teams' previous meeting 2-0, were also coming off a win against Southeast and a tie against Grimsley.
Southwest had several scoring opportunities throughout. But the connection was just a little off this time.
"We definitely didn't play our best," Cowgirls coach Corbin Waller said. "It's frustrating after a game against Grimsley where we played so well and to just not play as well as we could, especially on Senior Night.
"We were just inconsistent this week. And it's just frustrating because they can play better than they did tonight."
Southwest, after hosting Northwest Guilford on Friday, will turn around and visit Northwest on Monday. It'll wrap up its regular season Wednesday at Page before hosting nonconference opponent Bishop McGuinness on Thursday.
Ragsdale will host Western Guilford on Tuesday and Northern Guilford on Thursday. Both teams are on the bubble to make the state playoffs, which will begin the following week.
