After filling in at goalie last season, Avery Howard couldn’t wait to return up top as a field player in Pillow Academy’s season opener against Jackson Academy.
The sophomore, one of three Howard sisters in the starting lineup, scored the first goal and assisted senior Madison Barlow nine minutes later to lead the Lady Mustangs past the Lady Raiders, 2-0, on Tuesday night at Chazzy Moor Field.
“I needed some playing time in the field, for sure,” Avery said. “It was hard being stuck back there the whole season. I missed passing with my two sisters up there.”
It only took 10 minutes for the oldest Howard sister, senior Sarah Presley, to find Avery for the first goal of the season. Avery began the scoring play back at defensive midfielder, but switched with Sarah Presley up top when she saw an opportunity for a run that she couldn’t pass up.
“We just know,” Sarah Presley said.
“We know how to communicate without really communicating,” Avery chimed in. “We can just read each other’s minds.”
“It’s like telepathy,” Sarah Presley added.
They figure to share time at forward, where they seem to translate family chemistry into team chemistry along with the third sister, Elise.
“We started travel ball when we were 5 or 6 and then we just never stopped,” said Avery, who also helped save a potential JA goal with 10 minutes remaining. “We all played up top and we’ve always had that chemistry.”
Senior goaltender Madeline Mattox recorded a shutout in her first start since tearing her meniscus last year. She got some help from defender Lola Ricketts, who blocked a shot from close range in the first half, as well as the post, which deflected a header off a Lady Raider corner kick in the second half.
Although Pillow lost a dominant trio of graduating seniors in Caroline Brock, Madeline Kelly and Julia Love Lyon, the squad still returned seven starters, five of whom are expected starters for Durwin Carpenter’s basketball team this year —including the Howard sisters.
The Lady Mustangs have made it to five of the past six state championship games. They won the title in 2018.
The difficult early slate continues Thursday with a trip to Madison Ridgeland Academy at 6:30 p.m. before district play kicks off Monday at Bayou Academy.
“We wanted to get us ready for the season,” Avery said of the decision to schedule tough opponents off the bat. “We want to be prepared for the state championship this year.”
- Contact Riley Overend at 581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
