Belton did not.
Rowlett scored twice with the wind in the first half - including a back-breaking goal in the closing seconds - and Belton couldn’t match it after intermission as the Lady Eagles held off the Lady Tigers 2-1 Friday night in a girls Class 5A area-round soccer playoff at Midlothian ISD Stadium.
After Belton appeared in the Region II quarterfinals the last three years, the Lady Tigers’ season came to an end one round earlier in brutal conditions. Rowlett (14-8) advanced to face the winner of Tyler Lee and Garland Naaman Forest, while the Lady Tigers (21-2-3) had their 15-game winning streak halted.
The wind chill was 39 degrees at kickoff and Belton’s offense never heated up. The Lady Tigers managed only three shots against the wind in the first half, when the Lady Eagles staked themselves to a lead they never relinquished.
“The biggest thing was that second goal of theirs,” Belton coach Barry Elkins said. “Down 1-0 and getting the wind, we were in a good spot. But down 2-0 with the wind isn’t exactly where we wanted to be, and we pressed too much in the second half.”
With the wind at their backs, the Lady Eagles controlled the first-half action as the Lady Tigers struggled to mount much of an attack.
Belton trailed 1-0 only 19 minutes in when Rowlett capitalized off a corner kick. Kourtney Nelson sent the ball to the far side, where Marissa Diggs headed it at the feet of goalkeeper Kelsi Darr, who never got a piece of it as bounced in.
The Lady Eagles widened the gap only 48 seconds before intermission when Bethany Labac broke in along the right side. Darr charged and deflected the initial shot, but Labac buried the rebound for a 2-0 Rowlett advantage.
“At 1-0, you can still settle the ball and play like you want to,” Elkins said. “But at 2-0, I was afraid we were going to press too much.”
The Lady Tigers tried to rally off a spark provided by Chelsea Jones, their career goals leader and a Texas A&M signee. Seven minutes in the second half, Jones found the ball at her feet 30 yards out on the left side and immediately drilled it off the right post and in to cap her career total at 106.
But even with the wind, Belton didn’t capitalize again.
Two minutes later, sophomore Jourdan Brown chased down a long pass on the left and centered the ball to Taylor McMillan, who got only a brushing touch on it before Rowlett keeper Elizabeth Lanier grabbed it.
Jones had a pair of driving shots miss the target a short time later, and Michelle Hagen’s header that missed at the 10-minute mark was the Lady Tigers’ last true chance.
“We had two good chances in the first half and three or four more in the second half that we just didn’t put in the net,” Elkins said. “In a 30-mph wind, you just have to finish your chances in the playoffs, and we didn’t."
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
