Dramatic finish: Late goal lifts Southside girls’ soccer team to win

Published 10:55 pm Monday, March 17, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — In just a few moments, the Southside High School girls’ soccer team went from cautious optimism to disappointment to elation.

The Seahawks lost a lead to Bear Grass Charter then regained it on a goal with less than two minutes left by senior Estrella Ramos. Southside then held on for the dramatic 4-3 win. The victory puts Southside at 5-1 on the season.

“Estrella can go forward, she can play defense, she can play midfield, so she’s kind of been a real blessing to the team,” said Jay Petty, the boys’ soccer coach who was helping out his daughter, head coach Sarah Petty. “She won a player of the game again tonight.

“Just because she is out there, she goes 110%, and she does what she’s supposed to do, regardless of where I put her. And as I was telling the team at the end of the game, I said if this had been Estrella four years ago as a freshman, that would have never happened. She just didn’t have the maturity, but you watched her tonight.

“She played like a mature player. She stayed composed, worked the ball down there, got a good shot off. So that’s what I told her at the end of the game, I was just so impressed that she stayed as composed as you did.”

Southside was cruising in the first half, taking a 3-1 lead into the break. Senior Kimberly Perez scored Southside’s first goal, and sophomore Pricila Selvin Gomez scored back-to-back goals minutes apart to break a 1-1 tie.

“I mean, obviously, you can see we’re very competitive,” said Gomez. “Once we see that almost our life’s on the line, we go all forward, no matter what, as long as we’re having fun.

“We’re just having fun, and we’re just putting our all into this game.”

Bear Grass (1-1) came back and made a game of it, scoring a goal midway through the second half before the equalizer with about three minutes left.

Petty said as well as his team played in the first half, they struggled in the second half, allowing the Bears to get back into it. But the team recovered in time for the dramatic finish.

“I’ve got other girls like Kimberly Perez playing in the midfield, just really kind of anchoring us, Valerie Ramirez Diaz on the defense and Rosa Vargas on defense,” Petty said. “Just kind of anchoring us as seniors. I think what got us in the second half, I think between fatigue and brain farts, we allowed Bear Grass back in it.

“But again, I gotta give it to them. They’ve got some good players too. They did a really good job of going forward and controlling the ball really well.”

Southside has nine seniors on a squad that finished 12-8-3 and advanced to the second round of the Class 1A state playoffs last season. Also on the squad are four sophomores who have each scored at least one goal. Gomez and Eliza Jones lead the team with five goals scored each. That experience and youth are working well, but Petty said there are still things to work on to make them better.

“I said, as long as you’re learning, we’re gonna improve,” Petty said. “And so they realize that, yeah, coach, you’re gonna get mad every once in a while because we make a brain fart. Especially when I’ve taught it to them a million times in practice.

“You get to a game, sometimes it’s just the pressure, but they all learned. And what I’m watching is that, yeah, we make those mistakes, but I don’t see that same mistake from that same player again.”

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