Southlake girls win Regionals
Published 4/5/2008 7:25:52 PM by staff from Fort Worth Star Telegram
Southlake Carroll’s Lexis Learmonth wore a heavy cast on her broken wrist, but that didn’t stop her from scoring the most vital goal of the season. Learmonth was the eighth shooter for the Lady Dragons in a tiebreaking shootout, and when she converted Carroll advanced to the state tournament. After a scoreless draw through regulation and two halves of overtime Carroll won the shootout 3-2 against Hebron in the Class 5A Region I Championship at Pennington Field on Saturday.
“Our team has been practicing shootouts for three weeks now,” Learmonth said. “We’ve all been working really hard and we’ve all been taught by (coach Matt) Colvin to go the same way and I guess I knew my way.”
Learmonth broke her wrist in the opening round of the playoffs after a collision where she landed on it. She wasn’t the only hero on the day for the Lady Dragons (22-4-4). Keeper Caitlin Schneider saved three and forced another three high or wide during the shootout. Schneider is normally a field player but has converted to goalkeeper for Carroll this season.
“I’m just overwhelmed with excitement,” Schneider said. “We worked so hard for this. We preached about giving more when you have nothing left. We’re just so happy right now.”
The shootout opened with a miss and a save for both teams on the first two attempts. Carroll’s Nikki Crocco converted her attempt during the third round. However, Hebron (23-3-3) then went ahead 2-1 after the fourth round with goals from Tatyanny Griffiths and Danielle Nottingham. The Lady Hawks then entered the fifth round needing only to score to win, but Schneider tipped the attempt wide to keep Carroll alive.
Lady Dragons senior midfielder Whitney Moran then scored on the final attempt to send the shootout to sudden death. Hebron sent two wide right and Schneider saved another to give Learmonth the opportunity to send the Dragons to the state tournament, which begins on Thursday in Round Rock. During regulation, Hebron was the better team throughout the match but the Lady Hawks were unable to break down Carroll’s organized, staunch defense. It’s fair to say that the Lady Dragons defended first and attacked second. Senior defender Lani Huntley played a deep sweeper role, often 15 yards behind the midfield line even when Carroll held possession.
“We kind of took a defensive stance obviously and dropped Lani back,” Colvin said. “I’m not going to say we were going for a shootout but I will tell you we were defending and hoping to catch them on a counterattack.”
Label: Southlake soccer, Lexis Learmonth, Caitlin Schneider,
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