Bob Jones girls fall to Oak Mountain 2-0, season ends
Avery Batson (Bob Jones in white) shoots against Oak Mountain (Record Photo/Lindsay Vaught)
By Lindsay Vaught | Sports Writer
Huntsville- It was a short stay for Bob Jones in the AHSAA Soccer Championships, as defending 6A champion Oak Mountain defeated the Patriots 2-0.
Head Coach Tony Schroeder was upbeat despite the loss.
“Just to be here was a great opportunity to represent the north part of Alabama. We played some great soccer these last couple of weeks. Oak Mountain has been to the last 3 championship games and that experience showed.”
Schroeder said that Bob Jones played tentative and was nervous early.
“It took us a while to get into the flow of the game and once we did we started streaming some runs together but we were down by then. Oak Mountain moved the ball very well.”
The first half was played almost entirely around Bob Jones’ goal as Oak Mountain dominated with quick passes and aggressive play taking Bob Jones off the ball. Bob Jones had one shot on goal in the first half.
The Bob Jones defense held up for the first 30 minutes but a poor throw in pass was intercepted and the Eagles never lost control as they pressed the attack and scored in the 31st minute. Alexandra Dunn lofted a perfect shot that dropped over goalkeeper Taylor Felts for the 1-0 lead.
Eight minutes later Lauren Beard’s side kick kept curving and eluded a lunging Felts.
Bob Jones played better in the second half with Avery Batson leading the way. The Patriots managed 4 shots on goal. Batson had 3 of them. Katie Bell also had a shot on goal after an Oak Mountain player fouled Batson.
Oak Mountain had 16 shots and 8 shots on goal for the game. They narrowly missed adding to their lead when an open shot went wide in the 27th minute of the second half. Felts had a save with 4 minutes left in the game. Bob Jones’ Jackie Barnett got the only yellow card of the game for Unsporting Behavior
The players took the loss hard and were upset after the game.
“They were upset, they put their heart and soul into the game,” Schroeder said. “The outcome wasn’t what they wanted but next year if we get back we will be ready to go and have this experience.”
Avery Batson had several good plays especially in the second half. She played the entire game in temperatures approaching the high 80’s.
“Avery put everything she had out on the field, all the players did,” Schroeder said. “But when you go down 2-0 on two wonderful shots its difficult to come back. The Oak Mountain shooters did a great job putting those shots where Taylor couldn’t get to it.”
