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As rain drops and a cold wind swept across their home field against Yadkin Valley Conference foe West Montgomery, the Lady Bulldogs kept on trekking through the mud puddles, sliding from point A to point B. In a game Thomasville could have easily shunned in favor of a warm locker room, the Lady Bulldogs relished the chance at pulling off an upset.
In stoppage time of the second overtime, freshman Alex Solis stepped up to a penalty kick in a tied affair with the fate of her team on her toe. In one fail swoop, Solis found a clearing, splashing home the shot that not only propelled THS to a dramatic 4-3 victory, but etched in stone the first lasting memory in program history.
“We’ve played in conditions like this before, not the girl’s team,” said THS coach Huey Turner. “It was very physical and very sloppy but it’s our first conference win ever and we’ll take it.”
Soccer is known as a game that’s played under any circumstances other than lightning, but Thursday evening pushed that adage to the limit as the field resembled a pot of soup more than a playing surface. Throw in temperatures hovering in the 40s and it didn’t take a genius to figure out this game would be won by the team that wanted it more and was willing to get down, dirty, cold and very wet.
“The middle school game had gone on and it hardly rained at all,” Turner said. “They had already left West Montgomery and by the time they got here it was like this.”
Before the Lady Bulldogs even got used to the conditions they trailed as West Montgomery scored in the opening minute off a broken play. But that goal did foreshadow the rest of the game because as the footing deteriorated, scoring chances, when possible, would be there. Jacqueline Escamilla struck first for Thomasville at the 9:15 mark of the opening half, splitting a double-team 20 yards in front of the Lady Warriors goal and blasting home a goal to knot the score at one.
Paulina Burch got her chance with 3:11 to go before halftime when the senior broke free into open field and outran the West defense, setting up a one-on-one with keeper Porsha Little. The showdown turned out to be a mismatch as Burch made a move and sent home the shot into the abandoned net for a 2-1 lead.
Following a very brief halftime in which THS scattered to the gym for a few minutes while the Lady Warriors stayed out in the cold, West came out with a frozen chip on its shoulder. Midfielder April Brown promptly tied the game at two less than four minutes into the half when she corralled a loose ball in front of the Lady Dogs net and knifed the ball through heavy traffic. Thomasville had some chances to regain the lead but Bethany Reid and Burch couldn’t get together on a 2-on-1 situation and Burch had a goal waived off.
“It was cold, very cold,” said fullback Andrea Rivera. “It was hard to keep your temper and not let it go overboard. We’re excited and hopefully we can keep our streak going.”
Missed opportunities almost haunted the locals after the Lady Warriors took the lead with only 11:23 left in the game following a goal by Tipfany Bandith. Never undaunted the Lady Bulldogs responded four minutes later with the biggest play of the game. Tang Xiong’s tally with 7:00 to go sent the game to overtime.
“These girls have never quit,” Turner said. “Hopefully, this will start a winning streak. We’ve still got some games coming up that we could still pull out and make the playoffs. They’re gutsy and they have a giant heart.”
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.