SHS, Wylie now tied atop district soccer standings
By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com
(March 16, 2016) — Stephenville looked at film, made adjustments and forced No. 2 Abilene Wylie into a completely different style game than the teams played in their first loop through district.
It led to a different result, too, than the 3-2 loss Stephenville suffered in their first meeting.
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Bayleigh Chaviers broke up a scoreless battle with a goal in the 71st minute, and Wylie was unable to find an equalizer in the final nine minutes of a 1-0 Stephenville victory that leaves the state powers tied atop their district standings.
If both win Friday – both are heavily favored – they will share the district title and tiebreakers will determine who takes the top seed into the Class 4A playoffs.
“We changed some things we did. We filmed the first game and while watching it I noticed some things we could do to change the game, mainly changing formations,” said Stephenville had coach Casey Weil. “We played with one forward and we usually don’t do that, but it actually gave us a chance to stack the middle of the field, and we seem to create more chances out of the midfield.”
They created four golden chances that led to just enough scoring – one goal.
“They hit the pole once, so it was that close to being 1-1, but we also missed two point blank chances in front of their net and again on a clear breakaway,” the coach added. “I thought we should have scored four goals.”
But, again, one was enough. Thanks largely to another dominating defensive effort and more shut out net keeping by Jordyn Howle.
“We changed some things in the back, too, since early in the year,” said Weil. “We’re playing with a true sweeper now and that’s Savannah Alford and she just plays great anywhere we put her. Then we have Shelby Wood, Kalee Wright, Brooke Sanderford and Breanna Scroggins, and we can rotate them around back there because they are all solid and pretty much interchangeable.”
Stephenville visits Brownwood in its regular season finale at 6 p.m. Friday, and Weil said the team is looking toward a Thursday bi-district match next week, perhaps in a double-header format with the Stephenville boys.
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