JONESBORO — Valley View and Harrison battled evenly for more than 70 minutes in Saturday’s Class 5A girls’ state soccer semifinal before the Lady Goblins made the play that made the difference.
Two Lady Blazers and a Lady Goblin collided as they pursued the ball about 12 yards in front of the goal. Harrison’s Rylee Myers sprinted into the box and punched the loose ball into the open net with 9:36 remaining, scoring the goal that gave the Lady Goblins a 2-1 victory at Central Dealerships Stadium.
Harrison (20-4-1) advances to play Pulaski Academy in Saturday’s 5A state championship game in Conway.
“Any time you play a great, quality opponent like Harrison or PA, just like last year, it comes down one or two plays, whether it’s good plays by them being in the right spot at the right time,” said Valley View coach Ron Teat, whose 5A-East champions finish with a 17-4-2 record. “That’s what it was. I thought we did a good job coming out. I thought we had some communication issues, but all in all, their girls didn’t give up and were able to put it back.
“You look at a couple of opportunities early in the first half where I thought we had some clear, good opportunities and we didn’t finish them. It just comes back to players making plays and hats off to them because when it came down to it, that’s what they did in the last 10 minutes of the game.”
Harrison’s go-ahead goal was the only score of the second half. The Lady Goblins had a header sail wide of the goal with 2:25 remaining and the Lady Blazers’ last opportunity ended on an offside call in the final seconds.
Teat pointed to scoring opportunities that didn’t lead to goals in the first half.
“You’ve got the wind and that aids a little bit of some of the chances that you get first half versus second half,” Teat said. “I thought we had some real good ones in the first half and were unable to capitalize on them, and here we are.”
Harrison struck first with 5:37 remaining in the first half when Clare Barger sent the ball just past Valley View goalkeeper Ally Holland, who finished the day with six saves.
The Lady Blazers responded less than two minutes later after an Ellie Higgins corner kick. Headers by Josie Hargis and Morghan Weaver bounced off the crossbar before Micah McMillan scored her 43rd goal of the season with 3:27 remaining in the first half.
Teat said the 2023 Lady Blazers continued Valley View’s legacy of good teams.
“We move up to 5A and three of the four in the semifinals were in 4A last season. We’re used to good, quality soccer and we’re used to being up there at the top,” Teat said. “I think these girls, along with the girls in the past, have put Valley View on the radar where if you’re going to mention girls’ soccer and some of the top programs, you’ve got to mention Valley View.”
