MIDLAND — The Monterey girls soccer team found itself trailing by three goals late in its game with No. 4 ranked Southlake Carroll.

 

It was a deficit the Lady Plainsmen would try to erase in the final moments, but could not.

“We played as a team toward the end,” Monterey’s Ariel Diaz said. “It felt like we wanted it more than they did at the end. And we came out and we wanted it. We just couldn’t make it in the time that we had. Our crosses, we could have had them. It’s just that we were so anxious and we wanted it to get in and we tried to hard.”

Monterey fell to the Lady Dragons 3-0 in a Region I-6A semifinal at Grande Communications Stadium Friday.

The Lady Plainsmen came out fast and possessed the ball early against the Lady Dragons but soon lost the momentum.

Southlake Carroll pushed Monterey back and had to fight the Lady Plainsmen at midfield in the 12th minute to get its first opportunity at a goal, but came up short.

 

“The beginning wasn’t the way we wanted to start,” Southlake Carroll coach Matt Colvin said. “We really wanted to spread them out and make them chase and possess the ball. And they did a good job of disrupting that and I think some nerves got to us a little bit. But I thought we worked well through it as the game wore on.”

 

Monterey’s defense took a hit when senior midfielder Sonny Narvais left the game in the 29th minute and did not return.

With 1:59 left in the first half, Southlake Carroll’s Nicole Sloan converted on a penalty kick to get the Lady Dragons on the board, 1-0.

 

“One thing that affected us is we lost Sonny (Narvaiz) in the midfield in the first half,” Burke said, “and gave up a (penalty kick) and once we gave up that up that (penalty kick) it was a little downhill from there. (The team) knew that they had to catch up. Lexi (Burke) saved us I don’t know how many times. We had different people in defense at times and different people in midfield at times because Sunny was out. We really didn’t have anybody.”

 

Monterey’s Burke made several big saves in the second half in an attempt to keep Southlake Carroll from building on its lead. The Lady Dragons continued to test the freshman goalie with long shots from about 30 yards.

 

In the 68th minute, Southlake Carroll’s Lily DeFelice, assisted by Neaka Khalilian, got a shot off and hit the ball into the left side of the goal to build on the Lady Dragons lead.

 

Following the goal, Monterey found success in getting the ball downfield and Diaz set up three separate crosses for the Lady Plainsmen to capitalize on.

 

“If we are getting numbers back and transitioning on defense we are usually ok,” Colvin said. “When we get spread thin and don’t get behind the ball, that’s when the other teams are able to create opportunities.”

Monterey’s Tan Tan Williams found one of Diaz’s crosses and took her shot, but Southlake Carroll senior goalie Jamie Phelps stepped up for the save.

 

The Lady Dragons’ Allisyn Gardner, assisted by Natasha Santamaria, found an empty goal with 2:04 left in regulation and punched it in for Southlake Carroll’s final goal.