VHS falls twice to rival Pearl|[12/12/07]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Vicksburg Missy Gators are enduring one of the longest, toughest seasons in the program’s storied history. After Tuesday night, it might get a lot shorter.
Ashley Wilson scored two goals, Connor Mullins had a goal and an assist, and Pearl beat Vicksburg 4-2 at Memorial Stadium. Diari Gilliam scored twice, and Becky Wilson and Daria Lawrence each had an assist for VHS.
The loss was the eighth in 12 games for the Missy Gators, who have won only once, and put a big hurdle in front of them if they have any desire to turn things around and reach the playoffs. Vicksburg still has four division games left, including a rematch with Pearl on Jan. 8 and a meeting with division favorite Ridgeland on Jan. 22. But the Missy Gators must win at least three of those and beat Pearl by three goals or more. For a team that has scored only 10 goals all season — including five in its only win against McComb — that may be a tall order.
“It’s a two-goal differential, so they go into the next game already up 2-0,” VHS coach Kevin Manton said. “You don’t want to look at that. But that’s what it boils down to. We’ve got to play our tails off. No mistakes.”
The Missy Gators (1-8-3, 0-2 Division 3-4A) made plenty of mistakes on Tuesday, though. After controlling the tempo early and taking a 1-0 lead on a breakaway goal by Diari Gilliam, they fizzled out. Vicksburg had three shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, then managed only five in the last 60 minutes. Pearl, meanwhile, put 10 shots on goal in the second half and got three of those into the net.
“Their first goal we made a poor decision defensively. We just had to make corrections to adjust,” Pearl coach Chris Lee said. “I thought we made good adjustments to take away their speed up top and we played smarter.”
Pearl (5-4-2, 1-0) tied the game on Wilson’s first goal midway through the first half, then took the lead for good 9 1/2 minutes into the second. Wilson deflected a corner kick past VHS keeper Kelli Brewer for a 2-1 lead.
Pearl picked up the pace early in the second half, putting two shots on goal in the first two minutes before Wilson’s go-ahead goal seven minutes later. Brewer made nine saves in the game but the sheer volume of scoring chances finally allowed the Lady Pirates to slip a couple more past her.
At the 15:40 mark of the second half, Mullins set up Macey Lee with a nice drop pass just to the right of the goal. Lee blasted it to the wide side of the net to put Pearl ahead 3-1.
Gilliam got Vicksburg within one with just under 14 minutes to play by heading in a throw-in from Daria Lawrence. It took Pearl less than a minute to answer, though, as Mullins gathered in a through ball and shot it into the net to make it 4-2. The goal iced the game, and worse, gave Pearl a big leg up in what figured before the season to be a three-team race for two playoff spots.
“I just think we got out of our game,” Gilliam said. “It was our game. It was ours through and through, and we got out of it and let it get away.”
Manton agreed.
“Two breakaway goals, both in the second half. Failure to cover two corner kicks, and the first girl was unmarked,” Manton said, listing the Missy Gators’ breakdowns as he buried his head in his hands. “Pearl is coming into their own this year, and we should have played with them. They’re not two goals better than us.”
(B) Pearl 3, Vicksburg 0
Thomas Moore scored two goals, Trey Fontaine had one, and Dillon Walker and Andrew Black each had an assist as Pearl (6-4, 1-0) shut out Vicksburg (4-7, 0-2). Pearl outshot the Gators 9-3 and led 2-0 at halftime.
(B) Ridgeland 3, WC 1
Sean McRaney scored the Vikings only goal in a road loss to the Titans Tuesday night. Eric Chaple had the assist. The loss drops WC to 7-5-1.
(G) Ridgeland 4, WC 1
Shannon Richter scored the lone goal for Warren Central, but the Lady Vikes couldn’t overcome three goals from Angie Smith.