Southside loss comes at predictable point in season

Published 5:14 am Sunday, March 23, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CHOCOWINITY, N.C — Southside High School girls’ soccer coach Jay Petty isn’t necessarily a soothsayer. But he could see Wednesday’s outcome coming.

The Seahawks suffered a 2-1 loss to previously winless West Craven on Wednesday. Southside (6-2) bounced back Thursday with a 3-0 win over Greene Central, which also came into the match winless.

“Yeah, we’re missing some players (Wednesday), so I didn’t have my normal starting lineup out there. And Eliza Jones has been out sick all week long, and she normally starts at the central midfield spot with Kimmy (Kimberly Perez) and really helps control our pace.

“And so, I’m having to try to find a replacement. And we’ve just not gotten enough games under the season right now to really find a girl that’s capable of playing it yet. I’ve got ones that have potential, but they just don’t have the experience yet.

“So other than that, that really kind of threw us off. And then, as I told the girls, I said, normally what happens with us, we play three, four, five, six games real good. And we have our game where we’re off. That’s kind of where we’re at. We were five and one coming into the night. And we’ve had six games, we’re right in about that time frame.”

The Seahawks got off to a good start quickly as Perez broke free with the ball and booted a goal into the net just three minutes into the contest. It looked like the perfect formula for success but Southside struggled from there.

West Craven peppered the Seahawks’ goal for much of the first half and scored the tying goal by Ji’Zya West to force a 1-1 halftime tie. Petty tried to emphasize for his team to push ahead and increase its play but it didn’t happen.

“I think maybe we might have taken them a little too lightly,” Petty said. “We scored that first one so quick. I felt like as soon as we scored it, the girls just went, ‘OK.’” And we played like that for the rest of the first half.

West Craven went up 2-1 after a goal by Sarah Miller. From there, Southside seemed to raise its urgency in trying to find the equalizer but was never able, despite good looks from Pricila Selvin Gomez, Estrella Ramos and others, especially in the final 10 minutes.

“And I told him, I said, it normally happens,” Petty said of the bad game. “It happens to the boys. We normally have three, four, five games that are really good. And then we have that one game where nobody gives us what to do. It just doesn’t fall your way all night long. And that’s really kind of the way it was. And I can’t complain. The girls tried hard. They went as hard as they could.”

More Sports

Northside to hold Easter baseball, softball tournaments

Southside to hold football, soccer camps

Running man: Terra Ceia Christian coach to race in Boston Marathon

High 5, Washington’s Avery Thomas: Senior excels at soccer along with tennis, basketball, school

Print Article

SportsPlus

  • Polls

    What is the most viable option for S.W. Snowden Elementary School?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...