The Pillow Academy girls soccer team appears to be peaking at the perfect time.
The Lady Mustangs sent visiting Heritage Academy home early with an 8-0 blowout in Tuesday’s playoff opener, capping a three-game stretch during which they’ve outscored opponents 23-0.
“We’ve turned it up a notch now that it’s playoff season,” senior goalkeeper Madeline Mattox said.
“We’re ready,” echoed fellow senior Sarah Presley Howard.
Pillow (12-3-1), the Division II West champion, continued its recent trend of scoring early against the Patriots, winners of the East. Three minutes after the opening whistle, junior Avery Howard sent a ball into the box for freshman forward Addison Weems, who finished from close range. Madison Barlow showed off her breakaway speed 15 minutes into play as the senior converted on a fast break to give the Lady Mustangs a 2-0 lead.
Midway through the first half, Georgia Caroline Self found a sliding Avery Howard near the far end of the net to put Pillow up 3-0 in style.
The goals only seemed to get more impressive as the rout went on, with senior standout Kaley Harden joining in on the action late in the first half. Harden, a defensive specialist, scored her first goal of the season on a chip shot from deep and followed up with another high-arcing goal minutes later to make it 5-0. Harden nearly tallied a hat-trick on a penalty kick just before halftime, but her attempt missed wide off the right post.
“We were so excited,” Sarah Presley Howard said. “We’ve been trying to get that all season for her.”
“I can’t believe she missed the PK, though,” Mattox laughed. “She makes it every single time in practice. She was really mad.”
Even with a big lead, the Lady Mustangs didn’t take their foot off the gas down the stretch as Avery Howard beat Heritage’s keeper 1-on-1 for an easy goal early in the second half. Self then extended their lead to 7-0 with a beautiful strike into the top right corner of the net. After a chippy final few minutes of play featuring several yellow cards and a red card on the Patriots, sophomore Campbell Williams scored the game-winning goal with 16 minutes left to end the physical matchup at an 8-0 final courtesy of the mercy rule.
Pillow will play at Starkville Academy, a winner over Bayou Academy Tuesday, in a semifinal on Thursday, starting at 5:30 p.m.
- Contact Riley Overend at 662-581-7237 or roverend@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
The original version of this article was updated to show the result of the Starkville-Bayou match and to correct where Thursday's semifinal will be played.
