FLOWOOD — An upset was brewing in Monday’s Division II soccer championship between Pillow Academy and Madison St. Joe.
The Lady Bruins came into the matchup as underdogs after being outscored 11-0 during a pair of regular-season losses to the Lady Mustangs. But midway through the second period of extra time, they remained deadlocked at 0-0.
With just six minutes left in overtime, sophomore Elise Howard made sure the fate of Pillow’s season would not be decided by a penalty kick shootout.
“I don’t know if they want to score right now as bad as I do,” she told head coach Mary Clare Brock. “Push me up top.”
Brock obliged, and Elise Howard wasted no time rewarding her trust. The Lady Mustangs’ midfielder headed home a high-arcing corner kick from her older sister, Sarah Presley Howard, for a game-winning goal in the 94th minute. After an hour and a half of scoreless action, Pillow fans watching from the stands at Jackson Prep erupted into a frenzy.
“She’s just so intense as a younger player,” Brock said of Elise. “She’s had several years to step it up again, but she plays like it’s her last game ever. I couldn’t be prouder of her.”
The dramatic finish came after the Lady Mustangs’ offense stumbled out of the gates early, bearing little resemblance to the team that dominated Madison St. Joe in their previous two meetings. Brock chalked up the slow start to some jitters from her nine seniors as well as sound defensive strategy by the Lady Bruins.
“We have nine seniors, and when it’s the last game of your life, I think you can just go into panic mode,” said Brock, a second-year head coach. “We were eager to score; it just wasn’t going in. We were playing long balls and we weren’t playing our game — we kind of stepped down to their game. Also they were playing 10 in the box the whole time, so it was just hard.”
Sarah Presley thought she had a goal when she buried a free kick from 30 yards out, but the center referee deemed it no good for violating the rules of an indirect penalty kick. Pillow (14-3-1) earned three corner kicks at the end of the first half, but Madison St. Joe’s defense held strong, taking a 0-0 tie into halftime.
Elise nearly delivered the dagger off a corner kick in the final few minutes of the second half, but her shot was turned away from close range. Fortunately for the Lady Mustangs, the miss just made her more hungry for her moment of glory 15 minutes later.
Thanks in large part to the addition of a sweeper, the Lady Bruins’ defense bent but didn’t break for most of the afternoon. Madison St. Joe weathered a physical first period of extra time featuring three yellow cards. But in the second overtime, the Lady Bruins ran into a set piece that was practically impossible to defend against.
Sarah Presley floated a beautiful cross over a wall of Madison St. Joe defenders and onto the head of Elise, who rocketed a shot into the top left corner to seal Pillow’s 1-0 victory.
“I was really trying to get it up high,” Sarah Presley said of her corner kick. “We’ve been practicing that a lot, just hoping that would happen. (Elise) wants it.”
It felt like a fitting way for the Howard sisters to cap off their last soccer game together for the Lady Mustangs.
“It’s very sad,” said Sarah Presley, who graduates in the spring. “But thank goodness we got two state championships out of it. We’re ready to start playing basketball starting next Tuesday.”
Senior goalkeeper Madeline Mattox secured her third shutout in a row as Pillow’s defense went the entire postseason without conceding a goal. The Lady Mustangs outscored their three playoff opponents, 13-0.
Brock took some time to soak in the hefty MAIS trophy after losing a heartbreaker last year to Hartfield Academy in her first season as head coach. But with six state championship appearances in the past seven years and two titles to show for them, Pillow is undoubtedly a dynasty now. That means Brock already has her eye on next year and how to live up to high expectations.
“I feel like next year we’re going to have to regroup and grow as a team,” Brock said. “These younger girls will have to step up a lot to fill the shoes of our nine seniors.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” she added. “Hey, a win’s a win.”
- Contact Riley Overend at 662-581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
