Girls soccer regional finals: Carroll, Midlothian Heritage, Grapevine headed to state
Southlake Carroll 2, Flower Mound Marcus 0
Freshmen Zoe Matthews and Kennedy Fuller, who connected for the only goal in Friday’s win over Allen, did it again for Carroll on Saturday.
Matthews placed a good ball for Fuller, who dribbled around 20 yards, moved to her right and sent one to the left past a diving Marcus goalkeeper Bry Russell for her ninth goal in four playoff games.
“Coach Colvin put me out wide so I could get a little more one on one action and I took on that last defender and shot it,” Fuller said. “It’s great. These girls have taught me so much. High school season is great. I love it.
“This is what we’ve played for all season. This was our goal from day one.”
Senior Hanna Khan added her goal off a Matthews assist in the 76th minute and the Dragons shut out Marcus for the first time since Feb. 1 to win the Class 6A Region 1 championship at McKinney ISD Stadium.
Carroll (20-1-4), which won the 6A state title in 2019, advances to the program’s sixth state tournament. The Dragons will play a UIL 6A semifinal game against Austin Westlake (20-3) on Friday at noon at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.
“Unbelievable,” Carroll coach Matt Colvin said. “This group is really special with a lot of youth and great leadership, and that’s a good mix to have.”
Marcus (23-2-3) has also been one of the top teams in the area with its 11th appearance in the regional final since 2000. The Marauders also played for a state berth last season and in three of the past four postseasons.
“It’s awesome that I’ve come full circle,” said Khan, who was a freshman on that 2019 team. “This is a very special team and it reminds me a lot of the team we had in 2019.”
But it was only a matter of time for Carroll to get one in goal. The Dragons got off shot after shot in the first half while their defense gave the Marcus offense little to no room to attack.
After several attempts near the goal, Fuller scored just before intermission.
Fuller and Matthews also accounted for all of Carroll’s shots early on, including in the 8th, 10th and 13th minutes that were just off goal. The pair added two more in the 24th and 26th minute, the second shot by Matthews, but right to Russell. Marcus was fouled just outside of the box in the 32nd minute and attempted a free kick from the right side, but Carroll was able to clear.
“Our coaches kept telling us to keep taking shots and one of them will go in,” Matthews said. “This has been a dream of mine for a really long time.”
The Dragons have outscored playoff teams 18-1 and post their third straight postseason shutout and 13th clean sheet of the season behind a young but tough back line and freshman goalkeeper Olivia Geller.
“Everyone wants to talk about our attack and we have some amazing players going forward, but the last two games for sure, our defense is the reason why we’ve had success,” Colvin said.
Grapevine 4, Colleyville Heritage 2
The Mustangs erased an early 1-0 deficit to beat their district rivals in the Class 5A Region 1 championship match on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls.
Grapevine (21-2-1) advances to the state tournament and will play a 5A semifinal at noon on Thursday in Georgetown against Boerne Champion (20-3-3). It’s the Mustangs’ fifth trip to state in the past seven postseasons.
Colleyville Heritage, meanwhile, finishes the season 20-4-2 with its deepest playoff run since 2011.
Having already faced twice in District 6-5A this season, both teams winning a game, the Heritage Panthers got the early strike and 1-0 lead in the eighth minute on a Bonnie Miller free kick. The Panthers would tie it at 2-2 in the 33rd minute on a Miller to Alex Whitcraft goal.
Grapevine tied it at 1-1 in the 17th minute when Theresa McCullough sent a cross to Caroline Martin.
The Mustangs grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 28th minute on a McCullough to Sam Larsen connection. They added two goals in the second half, one in the 47th minute when McCullough finished off a Sammie Lumpkin pass.
The second came under 10 minutes when Kasten Merrill scored on a Naomi Jeter assist.
Midlothian Heritage 2, Argyle 1
Even after Argyle scored the game’s opening goal, no one on the Heritage side was worried.
The Jaguars countered five minutes later then got the game winner with five minutes left in regulation to win the Class 4A Region 1 championship on Saturday at Northwest.
Heritage (21-3-3) will head back to Georgetown to defend its crown and will play Lumberton (21-3-1) at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the 4A state semifinals.
“We’re big on weight room, we’re big on conditioning and we prepare all year through our preseason to get to this point for these battles,” said Heritage coach Gerald Slovacek, whose team is seeking its third title in three trips to state. “It’s not a fluke that we’re in this position and can battle to the end. The girls work hard, they believe and they play as a team.”
Argyle (23-2-1) applied most of the pressure early, but when Seton Hall signee Emma Sheehan left around the 10th minute with a leg injury, the tide seemed to turn with Heritage.
The Eagles did score first, however, when Sophie Placke was awarded a free kick after a foul in the 33rd minute. Kaitlyn Niemeyer took the shot and ripped it to the left corner just out of the reach of the Jaguars’ keeper.
Heritage answered in the 38th minute when Brynn Pollock took a slip pass from Kerry Scott. Pollock blasted a shot from 22 yards out from the right hash into the bottom right corner.
“Even after they scored I knew that we were going to put in the work and was confident in us that we were going to put it back on them,” said Pollock, a senior, who will forego college soccer to study medicine. “They are very good and I enjoy playing against them every year, but I definitely think that we come out every game ready to play.”
The Jags came out in the second half putting a lot of pressure on the Eagles. But Argyle nearly took the lead in the 46th minute when Niemeyer took another free kick from 21 yards out and banged it off the cross bar.
From that point Heritage out shot Argyle 12-2 the rest of the way with 10 of the Jaguars shots going on goal. The ball was in Argyle’s half for the majority of the second half.
Heritage took the lead, 2-1, in the 75th minute when Jules Burrows punched in a loose ball in front of the net from eight yards out. Burrows was state title game MVP last season with three goals scored.
“It was so exciting,” said Burrows, a sophomore. “I just felt like I was in the right place at the right time. I scored the goal, but it’s my whole team that got us this win.”
“Going back to state and trying to repeat and defend the title is something that we’ve talked about all year,” added Slovacek. “We had an opportunity to do it in 2019 and we got beat in the regional semifinal. Our goal as a team and my goal as a coach is to make sure that these girls are in a position to get to the state tournament and then we’ll let the dice roll.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 12:20 PM.