As time slipped away in the final minutes of Tuesday night’s South State Championship game, Oak Grove scored in the final three minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime.
Despite the Lady Warriors falling short 2-1 to Gulfport, Oak Grove’s late rally was a depiction of the team’s grittiness that they showcased in a season filled with challenges as the team overcame injuries as well as several COVID-19 quarantines.
“In 29 years of coaching, this is one of my most favorite because of what they had to go through,” Oak Grove coach Clay Smith said. “We’ve had injuries, quarantines. This whole past year had a whole lot of craziness, and they were able to come in January and take care of business in the district. I’m really proud of them. They played really hard and were dedicated.”
Neither team could truly find an edge in the physical first half, with Oak Grove outshooting Gulfport just 10-8. According to Smith, his only message for the physical play was to play through it.
“You tell them that that they just have to stay in it,” Smith said. “You just got to stay physical and don’t back down and keep fighting. I think with our play in the first half, we kind of had (Gulfport) shell shocked.”
In the second half, Gulfport came out aggressive and began to win 50-50 balls midfield. This helped create the Lady Admirals’ opening.
“I think the key was that they had a girl in the middle who kept winning the 50-50 balls,” Smith said. “I think that was a key because we pressured and got some chances. They just kept winning the ball, and there wasn’t anything we could do about that. That kind of took us out of the game a little bit.
“If your midfielders are winning 50-50 balls like that, then you are going to have more chances than us. That was a strength for them and a weakness for us.”
In the 56th minute, Gulfport had space to pass the ball just in front of Oak Grove’s goalkeeper, Jadyn Cunningham, who had five saves on the night. The ball bounced in front of, Cunningham and off the back of a teammate and right in front of one of Gulfport’s forwards, who scored the goal to give a 1-0 lead.
“In that area, you have to get a lucky bounce,” Smith said. “It hit off our back and fell right to their best shooter. She just put it away. Sometimes at this point, it just takes a little bit of luck and getting the bounce.”
In the final three minutes, Taylor Stewart had space from about 15 yards away and got a shot off. The ball took an Oak Grove friendly bounce, which tied the game and sent the game into overtime.
“I told them to just keeping playing,” Smith said. “We know just to play to her, and she will usually create on that left side and will follow up. The spin of the ball bounced and tricked the keeper, and that’s what got past her.”
At the beginning of overtime, the Lady Warriors came out aggressive and nearly scored as Gulfport’s goalkeeper had a ball almost slide through her hands and into the net. However, the Lady Admirals managed to regain momentum and scored in the 86th minute from a crossover that created a one-on-one matchup, which sealed the game.
“If (our shot) gets in, then it demolishes them or puts them in panic mode,” Smith said. “That’s what is tough sometimes at this point when you get those chances. You hope that you can finish there. Soccer is a funny sport. It’s one of the hardest scoring sports there is.”
Smith credits his team’s effort for never giving up throughout the game.
“That was a hard-fought battle,” Smith said. “I couldn’t ask for any more fight. Gulfport is beating people by multiple goals for most of the season. To take them to overtime and have a couple of chances to take the lead there, especially in the first 10 minutes (of overtime).
“Sometimes you just have to get that lucky bounce to fall your way, and it just didn’t. But in that overtime period, I was just proud of them because they didn’t give up.”
