Lady Dawgs move into second place with rally win over Heights
By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Things looked bleak for the Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs soccer team after a rebound goal by Harker Heights’ Aricela Ruiz put the Lady Knights up 3-0 just a few minutes into the second half of the second game of the Lady Dawgs’ Monday/Tuesday double-header.
The Lady Dawgs, however, had something to say about the outcome as they scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of action to earn a 4-3 win and put themselves in a tie with the Lady Knights for the second spot in District 12-6A with a 4-1 record and 12 points each behind the Belton Lady Tigers (5-0, 15 pts).
The rally began when Cove’s Emma Ross scored on an assist from Aly Moreno in the 62nd minute for a 3-1 Harker Heights lead.
The Lady Dawgs had a couple more opportunities on goal, but Heights’ keeper Yumari Hernandez was able to make a pair of saves to maintain the Lady Knights’ two-goal lead.
The Lady Dawgs then narrowed the lead to just one goal, 3-2, with a shot into the back of the net by Emily Poste on the assist by Brianna Miles in the 70th minute.
Aggressive play in the box by the Lady Dawgs forced a heights penalty and an ensuing penalty kick with 2:01 left where Poste buried it in the left side of the net to tie the match at 3-3.
The Lady Knights had a chance to regain the lead in the 79th minute but a save by Cove keeper Allison Crawley kept the Lady Dawgs alive for the potential game winner.
Another aggressive possession by the Lady Dawgs pushed them into the Lady Knights’ box once again where a foul on Miles with three seconds left set up another penalty kick where Ross connected in the back right for the buzzer-beater win.
In the first game of the two-day double-header on Monday night, the Lady Dawgs made easy work of the Shoemaker Lady Grey Wolves in an 8-2 win with seven of the Lady Dawgs’ goals coming in the first half.
Poste scored Cove’s first three goals for a hat trick with on goal coming on an assist by Alexis Smith before a goal by Ailene Rodarte, two goals by Miles on assists by Ella Crawley and Hailey Williams and the fourth goal by Poste on an assist by Ella Crawley led the Lady Dawgs to a 7-2 lead at the break.
The Lady Dawgs final score came on a goal by Emma Ross with an assist by Klarissa Ramon.
Bulldawgs’ soccer moves into tie for second with consecutive wins
The Cove boys’ soccer team also notched a pair of wins in their Monday/Tuesday double-header against Shoemaker/Heights.
On Monday the Dawgs shutout Shoemaker in a 7-0 win.
A goal by Symon Taylor gave Cove the early lead before an assist by Taylor to Gabriel Davis put the Dawgs up 2-0.
Another connection between Taylor and Davis made it a 3-0 Cove lead.
Justin Crook scored on his third free kick in three games before a lone goal by Alberto Botello gave the Bulldawgs a 5-0 lead.
Botello then buried another one in the back of the net on an assist by Alejandro Sanchez before a pass from Jose Steward to Kendrick Steward found net for the seventh and final goal.
The Bulldawgs then eked out a 3-2 win at Harker Heights on Tuesday to improve to into a tie at second place at 2-1-2 (10 pts) with Bryan (2-0-3, 10 pts), with Temple (4-0-1, 13 pts) leading the way and Killeen (3-2-2, 9 pts) edging out Belton (2-2-1, 8 pts) for that fourth-place spot.
A goal by Kendrick Steward on an assist by Taylor gave the Bulldawgs a 1-0 lead at halftime.
After the Knights knotted the game at 1-1, Davis put the Dawgs back ahead 2-1.
Another goal on a free kick by Crook for his fourth-consecutive game iced the match for the Bulldawgs with six minutes remaining.
The Lady Dawgs and Bulldawgs face the Killeen Kangaroos tonight with the Lady Dawgs traveling to Killeen and the Bulldawgs hosting the Roos at Bulldawg Stadium.