Published: April 12, 2008 01:17 am            

Tough trip for NHS girls

EDMOND — Maybe 10 minutes after it ended, after his squad’s 1-0 loss at Edmond Memorial Friday night, Norman High girls coach Bob Byers, trying to put the game in the right context, couldn’t have made it any simpler.

“It was a good start,” he said.

The Tigers dropped to 7-4 on the season and 3-1 in District 6A-1. Only three regular season games remain before the playoffs begin April 29, and here Byers was talking about a “start.”

“Like four games ago,” he said, “we basically started over.”

The season began again for the NHS girls following the Sooner Showcase. That’s when Byers changed things up defensively. In so doing, making the move to go with a flat four-girl back line was sure to have ripple effects all the way to the front.

The Tigers won three straight games with their new alignment before taking the field against the state’s previously top-ranked team. Yet compared to Memorial, it might have been three pretenders.

The Bullodgs were the first real test.

The Tigers passed it, even in defeat.

“You guys played great,” was the message Byers offered his team, more than once, upon the game’s conclusion

“Considering how we’ve been playing … we’ve been leaky in the back,” said the coach. “I thought we played well.”

The difference in the game came in the blink of an eye.

One moment it was tied, scoreless, the next Memorial’s Madi Hilles was dribbling the ball along the left edge, crossing along the ground to the left foot of Megan Watkins, who tucked the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal past NHS keeper Jordan Taylor.

NHS had already spent its two best opportunities, both of them resting in the hands — or on the feet — of Meghan Hatfield. Both times, she controlled the ball beyond the reach of the Bulldog defense, though neither time was she completely settled and able to tee off on the ball.

“You try to get whatever you can on it,” she said, “but it just didn’t work out.”

Despite not finding the net, Hatfield was as encouraged as her coach with the Tigers’ showing against one of the state’s best teams.

“I just thought it was a good struggle,” she said. “I just thought it was pretty even.”

Memorial outshot NHS 8 to 7. Both Bulldog keeper Brittan Elder and Taylor made four saves.

Memorial, however, had the better chances. Taylor’s best save of the night came in the fourth minute, and she still needed a post to keep the ball out of the net.

Byers would like more scoring chances, but he knows the new focus he’s placed on defending will have some natural consequences.

“With what we’re doing (defensively), we’re not going to be creating a lot of scoring opportunities,” he said. “But it’s what we need to be doing.”

Despite defeat, NHS still has its district destiny in its hands. Tuesday, the Tigers face district kingpin Mustang at the NHS Soccer Complex.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com

        

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