With just under 18 minutes remaining, the Brownwood Lady Lions and No. 2 Stephenville Honeybees were deadlocked at one goal apiece in their District 5-4A rematch Tuesday at Gordon Wood Stadium. Stephenville then reeled off a flourish of three goals in a 10-minute span to remain undefeated and deny the Lady Lions’ upset bid, 4-1.
“That score doesn’t reflect their character and the way they played today, I’m just so proud of them,” said Lady Lions head coach Alexis Mosqueda. “They have heart, they want to be out there, we’re trying to build better people, that’s the bigger picture and I can’t say enough about them.”
After a scoreless first half, Stephenville scored just 42 seconds after halftime to take the lead.
Brownwood (12-5-1, 6-4) – which lost its first match at Stephenville 1-0 – answered with 33:39 left as Kennedi Johnson scored the 98th goal of her career. The shot came after the Stephenville (17-0-1, 10-0) goal keeper fired off an errant in-bounds kick, which went directly to Johnson who sent the ball back into the net from 25 yards out.
“I told them at halftime the defense held them and we had to capitalize on the few opportunities we do have,” Mosqueda said. “The little opportunities come few and far between against a top ranked team like Stephenville, but we did that once right after they scored the first goal.”
With 17:27 to go, Stephenville broke the tie, then added insurance goals at the 10:35 and 7:22 marks to foil any hopes of a Brownwood rally.
“No. 13 for Stephenville, Tori Cameron, I tip my cap to her; she just has it,” Mosqueda said. “She made two shots on the opposite side of the goal where the angles are cut off. She’s just lights out.”
On the injury front, Mariah Young left the game with a knee injury and needed crutches to leave the field, while Molly Oliver had ice applied to an ankle before the contest concluded.
“Molly tweaked her ankle a little bit but I think she’ll be good to go and hopefully Mariah can come back because we need the numbers for the playoffs,” Mosqueda said.
The Lady Lions, who remain alone in third place in the 5-4A standings, venture to Gatesville at 5 p.m. Friday then host Little River Academy in the home and regular season finale at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
