| LUFKIN - Lamar Consolidated was missing one of its main offensive cogs Tuesday night in its playoff game against Whitehouse.
Luisa Teran missed the game because she was in Coast Rica playing for the national team, said Lamar coach Vickie Manies.
How much the Lady Mustangs were hurt from her absence may never be known for sure, but a team being outshot and playing defense for most of the night is never a formula for success.
And that doesn't factor in the play of LadyCats forward Lindsay Pritchard, a scoring machine who will play for Midwestern State next year.
But Lamar held Whitehouse scoreless at halftime, despite Whitehouse outshooting Lamar 15-3 at the break.
Unfortunately for the Lady Mustangs (18-5-7), they couldn't score, either, and nothing improved for them in the second half, as they produced just one shot on goal.
Meanwhile, a relentless LadyCat attack - led by Pritchard - eventually broke through Lamar's defense and scored two second half goals, leaving the Lufkin Panther soccer field with a 2-0 victory in the Class 4A Region III Semifinals.
Pritchard scored both goals - the first at the 19:12 mark and the second at the 7:30 mark - for the Whitehouse win. The LadyCats (21-2) now play defending state finalist Friendswood, who defeated Lindale, 3-0, in the nightcap at the Lufkin soccer field.
Manies said it was disappointing to lose Tuesday, especially because the Lady Mustangs are accustomed to having Teran at the point of attack. Teran's participation in the national team was planned months ahead of time, Manies said.
“We're used to having her up there, and we have a talented forward up there but it's hard with one when you're used to playing with two,” Manies said. “I think that just kind of through us off a little bit. I knew we were going to play a lot of defense coming into this game.”
The vast majority of the game was played inside the Lamar side of the field, as the LadyCats' strong dribbling, passing and ball-handling skills gave Lamar trouble all evening.
The strongest chance Lamar had to score came in the second half at the 8:40 mark when Kaci Wilson, on a breakaway with a defender on her, sailed her shot wide left of the goal. A little over a minute later, Pritchard tapped in her second goal of the evening.
Manies said a combination of Teran's absence and Lamar not being able to penetrate the Whitehouse midfield hampered her team's offensive output. She said she had to shuffle people around at midfield, to try to put them in places to fill that other forward spot.
Whitehouse had to make its own adjustments.
“We had to adjust to the field,” said Whitehouse coach Brad Jones. “We're not used to playing on a field this big and this wide and it definitely took some adjustment for us. I think it definitely helped them.”
But Whitehouse made some halftime adjustments, Jones said, and the players realized they had to get closer to the goal to be more successful with their shots.
Jones said he thought his team wore down Lamar.
“We were able to finally find that crease and put one in,” he said.
Pritchard's first goal was a liner from the center of the field, medium range, that sailed just over the goalkeeper's head.
“I knew she was good,” Manies said about Pritchard. “From everything I've seen on Whitehouse, I knew that Number 12 was going to cause us some problems.”
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