Ridgeland eliminates Lady Mustangs

By Shawn Wansley, sports@laurelleadercall.com

Aaron Avila felt his West Jones Lady Mustangs had a shot to beat the Ridgeland Lady Titans in the North State Class 4A playoffs Saturday afternoon if they kept the score down.

The Lady Mustangs did just that, but came up just short against the four-time defending champions, dropping a 1-0 decision on a cool afternoon at Mustang Stadium.

“There is not much you can say about that game,” said West Jones head coach Aaron Avila. “They have a great team and we have a great team. Our girls played as good as they could today.

“Unfortunately, one has to lose. That’s all I can ask from the girls. Everybody played great today.”

Ridgeland, 18-2-2 and ranked No. 1 in the state by a Jackson newspaper, moves into the North State 4A championship game Tuesday against West Lauderdale. The Lady Knights beat Northeast Jones 1-0 Saturday at Tiger Stadium.

It was the first defeat of the year for the Lady Mustangs, who are rated No. 9. They end the year at 22-1-1.

“Hats off to every single girl over there and Aaron as well,” said Ridgeland coach Josh Avenmarg of the Lady Mustangs. “He had this young team coming in here undefeated and plagued by injuries. But to see that physical of a game – and I mean that in the clean sense – out of that group that young is something that is rare.

“There is no doubt they will be right back in these playoffs next year.”

West Jones was battling the injury bug coming into the contest.

Second-leading scorer Catie Lyles was out with a knee injury, while third-leading scorer Bridget Dennis has been slowed by an ankle sprain. Dennis managed to gut it out for most of the game, but leading scorer Macie Wallace went down with around 15 minutes to play. Wallace played most of the game with a heavy wrap around her thigh and went to the muddy turf late and could not return.

“It was a tough situation for us,” said Avila.

The Lady Titans, led by All-Star forward Rachel Givan, scored the game’s only goal in the 16th minute. Givan, who has signed with the University of North Carolina, took a pass from Becca McNeil and knocked it into the goal.

Ridgeland kept the pressure on West Jones from the start, ending up with some 20 shots on goal. However, freshman goalkeeper C.J. Winship was up to the task, repeatedly making saves and keeping the Lady Mustangs in the match.

“She had a great game,” Avila said of Winship. “She made a lot of big saves. Our defenders stepped up, too. I don’t think too many people gave us a chance to hold that team to one goal.”

Senior Ashley McQuirk was in goal for the Lady Titans, but was not challenged too much. West Jones could only manage a couple of shots on goal for the entire game.
Still, the game was tense until the final whistle sounded as the Lady Mustangs played sound defense all afternoon.

“We just wanted to give ourselves a chance and that’s what we did,” said Avila. “We just could not put one away on them.”

Avenmarg knew his team would be in for a test. He respected the Lady Mustangs before the game and the performance by West Jones did nothing to deter him.

“We expected a tough, physical match,” he said. “We knew the ‘pitch’ was going to be wet and we knew we would be facing a good team. Just because they haven’t played the Clintons and the Tupelos, their wins were deserved. We knew it would be a hard game and it was.”

Most Mustang fans were already looking ahead to next season after the game. Only one senior – Morgan Graves – is on the roster. Everyone else will return

“We had a great season and we’ve got a lot to look forward to,” Avila said. “We have a bright future.”