The North Pike Lady Jaguars entered the Class 4A state soccer playoffs knowing little about their opponent.
In fact, North Pike head coach Wes McCullough knew so little about the Greene County Lady Wildcats that he deemed them a mystery team.
Despite one of the Lady Jaguars’ best efforts of the season, the mystery remained unsolved Thursday and North Pike was eliminated from the postseason in a 2-0 loss to Greene County at North Pike Middle School.
The Lady Jaguars (14-2-2) could not cash in any of their handful of scoring opportunities against the quicker Lady Wildcats (10-5).
Greene County advances to the second round on Saturday.
“We didn’t know much about them,” McCullough said. “We didn’t have anyone to compare them to. They played teams on the coast and we played teams nearer to us.”
Still, McCullough said it was a stellar effort put forth by his squad.
“The girls played hard,” he said. “I’m disappointed with the loss, but it was probably the best game they played all year with that intensity.”
Greene County scored both its goals in the first half. The first tally came just 2:30 into the game on a direct kick from 18 yards out to make it 1-0.
After the game’s first goal, however, North Pike sophomore goalkeeper Savannah Welch found her groove. She made a diving stop of a shot from the right wing in the eighth minute. Moments later, she came running forward from the goalkeeper’s box to pull in another save just before Greene County’s midfielder could make a pass forward to a teammate.
The Lady Jaguars’ offense, however, never could get untracked. In the 13th minute, freshman midfielder Lauren Wells sent a pass in the middle of the field ahead to sophomore midfielder Savannah Johnston. After maneuvering her way around a defender, Johnston drilled a 15-yard shot that sailed just to the left of the goal.
Greene County padded its lead in the 20th minute when the Lady Wildcats’ forward dribbled the ball ahead and past Welch, who slipped while trying to get to the ball. The forward then deposited the ball into the open net to make it 2-0.
Two minutes later, North Pike missed another scoring opportunity when junior midfielder Raven Nunnery’s shot from 25 yards out on the right wing sailed wide right of the goal.
The Lady Jaguars threatened to score early in the second half, but junior forward Dakota Parks, the team’s leading goal scorer this season, had her shot from 20 yards out sail wide right.
North Pike’s best scoring opportunity up to the moment went for naught in the game’s 51st minute. After being tripped, Parks sent a free kick forward to Wells, whose shot on goal deflected off the Greene County goalkeeper, who ran to her right to retrieve the ball just before it rolled into the goal.
While the Lady Jaguars couldn’t get on the board, Welch made sure Greene County didn’t extend its lead further. The North Pike goalkeeper made several diving stops, including one off a shot from the left wing. Welch finished with 13 saves.
North Pike saw its final scoring chance end when Wells’ shot from 22 yards hit the crossbar in the 74th minute.
Despite the loss, McCullough praised his team, which registered the lowest loss total by any soccer team in school history.
“And we have all but one coming back,” he said.
