South Meck girls’ soccer stops Myers Park in big SoMeck conference 4A match
South Mecklenburg girls’ soccer coach Bryan Murray wasn’t in the mood for another tie.
“He told us that we’ve already had enough ties this season,” South Mecklenburg goalkeeper Lilly Heaslet said. “He wanted a victory.”
Murray’s team delivered.
The Sabres’ Tess Rothenberger converted a corner kick from Riona Caszatt one minute into the second overtime period Friday night, and South Mecklenburg scored a 1-0 victory over visiting Myers Park in a battle of SoMeck 4A powers.
The victory left South Mecklenburg (9-2-3, 6-1) atop the conference, with defending 4A state champion Ardrey Kell (12-4, 4-1) and Myers Park (5-5-1, 4-1) in close pursuit.
“Winning a match like this is really big,” said Murray, a South Meck alum (Class of 2013) who is in his second year as the Sabres’ head coach. “Our rivalry with Myers Park is huge, and it feels really good to beat them.”
Mustangs start strong
Anyone who left at halftime might be surprised the Mustangs lost.
Myers Park dominated the first half, outshooting the Sabres 9-3 and keeping pressure on Heaslet and her defense much of the time.
But the Sabres flipped the switch in the second half. They pushed the tempo and outshot the Mustangs 8-3.
“Our players don’t like to take long shots,” Murray said. “I’ve been trying to encourage them to take the long shot more often.”
The Sabres’ Julia Grier nearly scored from 20 yards out early in the second half, and Myers Park goalkeeper Lila Yingling made a great stop on a shot by South Mecklenburg’s Caroline Wawak in the closing seconds of regulation.
‘A beautiful ball’
Neither team had great scoring opportunities in the first 10-minute overtime, but the Sabres struck quickly in the second 10-minute session.
Caszatt, a freshman, directed the corner kick in front of the goal. The ball landed at the feet of Rothenberger, who quickly pushed it into the goal.
“That was a beautiful ball,” Myers Park coach Bucky McCarley said of Caszatt’s corner kick.
The Mustangs threatened in the closing minute, but Heaslet made a pair of point-blank saves.
“I relied on instinct,” Heaslet said.
McCarley has coached some great senior-laden teams at Myers Park, but this year’s version of the Mustangs is very young. Yingling, the goalkeeper, is a freshman. So is the team’s No. 3 scorer, Lily Daniel. Leading scorer Amaya Falzarano (14 goals, six assists) is a sophomore, as is No. 2 scorer Laine Connell.
“That’s a really good team over there,” Murray said of the Mustangs. “We’ve got to play them again, and we’ve got to play Ardrey Kell. Basically, the three of us are tied for first place. The rest of the season is going to be special.”
Murray noted that Myers Park is a perennial state championship contender, and Ardrey Kell won the title last year.
“Everyone seems to look at us as ‘the other team’ ” Murray said. “We’re always the No. 3 team. We think it’s our turn to lead. We’ve got a large group of seniors, and we think this can be our year.”
