Another playoff shutout sparks Southlake Carroll into girls soccer state title game

Southlake Carroll’s back line features two starting freshmen, two sophomores and a freshman goalkeeper.

It’s impressive enough that behind a young squad, the Dragons are at the UIL girls soccer state tournament. Even more impressive is that Carroll has only given up one goal in the past nine games.

Behind senior Hanna Khan’s two goals, the Dragons posted another playoff shutout to beat Austin Westlake 3-0 in a Class 6A state semifinal on Friday at Birkelbach Field.

Carroll (21-1-4) advances to play Rockwall (22-3-2) in the state championship at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Carroll won titles in 2008 and 2019.

It’s Rockwall’s first trip to state. The Yellow Jackets beat Ridge Point 4-2 in overtime on Friday.

The Dragons kept up the pressure in the first half with a number of shots and good looks. They had five shots in the first half compared to Westlake’s one.

“Defenders don’t get an opportunity to shoot, but coming in you get the opportunity to shut them out and show them that they’re not getting past the back line either no matter what,” sophomore defender Kaylie Harris said.

Hannah Jordan, Kennedy Fuller and Zoe Matthews all had chances in the first 10 minutes.

Carroll finally got one in the 12th minute.

Hanna Khan’s younger sister, Maddie started the run to the box, crossed it to Matthews who stood about 15 yards in front of the goal and hit Hannah Khan on the left side.

Khan beat the keeper to the far post to give Carroll a 1-0 lead.

“It’s awesome,” said Khan, who won a state title as a freshman in 2019. “It’s like a development thing, freshman year to now ... to see how far I’ve come.

“I could feel the momentum [even before the game]. Even in the locker room, we were all excited, playing music and having fun, and I could just tell it’s our day.”

Fuller had another chance in the 30th minute that was stopped and Westlake was able to get some offense, but a shot was deflected and stopped by Carroll keeper Olivia Geller, who had two saves.

The Dragons elevated the pressure to begin the second half with three or four shots on goal to come out of the break. Khan finally got another in the 47th minute when her shot from about 20 yards hit just inside the top post and bounced in for a 2-0 lead.

Carroll’s defense didn’t let up and Westlake only had two shots after intermission.

With the clock winding down, Matthews got a pass 40 yards away from Jordan and beat the keeper on the right side with seven seconds to go. Carroll had 14 shots with eight on goal. Fuller had a game-high five shots.

It’s Carroll’s fourth straight shutout and fifth overall in the playoffs. The Dragons have out scored playoff teams 21-1 and 34-1 during the past nine games, which have included eight clean sheets.

Freshmen Abby Mills and Parker Wikerson and sophomore Carly Walter are also on the back line.

“I think we have a really good connection and we do a good job covering for each other,” Harris said. “We don’t want another person to fail so we’re always there for each other. We all want the same thing. We don’t want anyone to score and we’re all really close so that helps.”

“It’s awesome being confident in our back line,” added Khan. “To trust them like that, there’s nothing like it.”