For the second straight playoff game, they stormed to an early lead. But this time, they couldn’t hang on.
Garland outlasted Temple for a 3-1 overtime win in a Class 5A area-round playoff game Friday night at Baylor’s Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The loss ended the Lady Wildcats’ season at 15-9-1, their best mark this decade.
“Nobody, for sure, expected us to be here, against Garland in an area game,” Temple coach Oscar Bersoza said, “where I think it could have gone either way.”
Temple nearly executed the script - the same one that helped it to a bi-district win over Mesquite - to perfection early. The Lady Wildcats grabbed the lead in the eighth minute, once again off a set play that they practice daily.
After a foul, Kristen Kylberg launched a free kick in the goalie box that hooked to the left thanks to a strong wind. In a mass of blue and white jerseys in front of the goal, Emily Fritz got a foot on the ball that squirted into the arms of Garland’s goalkeeper, who fell into the net for a goal.
“(Kylberg) put it in a great ball, everyone was running toward it,” Bersoza said. “We practice that stuff all the time. It paid off.”
Temple scored on a set play in its 1-0 win over Mesquite, a header off a corner kick. For a team that averages just over a goal per game, taking advantage of those opportunities is key.
“We set up those pieces for specific moments and they’ve paid off twice in two playoff games,” Bersoza said.
The Lady Wildcats spent much of the next 50 minutes making sure the Lady Owls couldn’t answer.
Garland peppered goalkeeper Abby Blunt with 13 shots but couldn’t convert, even with the wind in the second half. The Lady Owls’ only regulation score came when Susan Summerville scored on a penalty kick after being taken down in the box. Summerville scored Garland’s lone goal in a bi-district win over Richardson Berkner.
“That’s just the way it goes with soccer,” Bersoza said. “I thought we defended well. We just gave up that penalty kick, which was iffy, but that’s soccer.”
The Lady Owls took the momentum from there, scoring once in each of the 10-minute overtime periods. Garland finished with 22 shots on goal, controlling possession for much of the overtime periods.
Though Bersoza figures not many people expected the Lady Wildcats to be in the area round, he said it’s an experience that can only help in the future.
“I couldn’t be happier to be here because I think these kids have done a phenominal job in establishing themselves,” Bersoza said.
