For 364 days, Houston’s girls soccer team has kept Clarksville High in its thoughts.
Avenging the Lady Wildcats’ 2014 Class AAA state soccer tournament title win (3-1) over the Lady Mustangs was the biggest thing on their mind.
Saturday afternoon at Richard Siegel Park, Houston made sure those thoughts were put to good use as its suffocating defense stifled Clarksville en route to a 3-0 victory and Class AAA state title.
Houston’s Anna Della Rosa looks to keep the ball away from Clarksville High’s Haley Welker during the first half of their Class 3A state soccer tournament championship game Saturday in Murfreesboro.
“We would have played anybody in this championship and there were some deserving teams, some great ones. But we really only wanted Clarksville High.” Houston coach David Wolf said. “That’s all we’ve thought about all year. Our goal was to get back here and play them.”
It’s the seventh state title for Houston and the first since 2013. The Mustangs finish the season a perfect 22-0 while Clarksville ended as state runner-up with a 23-5 mark.
Houston dominated long stretches of the game. It outshot Clarksville 16-1 and had 16 corner kicks, eight in the first half. Defensively, the Mustangs were impressive, killing every attacking run Clarksville had.
Clarksville’s scoring trio of Gybson Roth, Salera Jordan and Lexie Hayes looked for room to maneuver but found a Houston defender’s leg instead. Roth had Clarksville’s best opportunity to score in the first half after a perfect pass from Jordan. Houston’s goalie Kaylie Hammer came out to meet Jordan leaving an empty net for Roth. Roth fired her foot forward and slipped as she made contact. The ball hit the near post with a thud.
“Houston is a great team but their road to this game was a bit easier,” Clarksville coach Jeff Jordan said. “They have great players and they were fresh. We weren’t. Had we had the legs maybe it’s a different story.”
Houston’s Paola Ellis (11) heads the ball away from Clarksville High’s Staci Navarro during the first half of their Class 3A state soccer tournament championship game Saturday in Murfreesboro.
Houston responded late in the first half with freshman Jenna Kemp, who found the far back post wide open as Clarksville goalie Melia Correa had the near post covered. Kemp’s shot slid wide to Correa’s right and into the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead with less than nine minutes left in the half.
Paola Ellis gave Houston a 2-0 lead with 35:08 left in the second half, drilling a shot into the far right upper corner of the net.
Jillian Hildreth added an insurance goal with 28:25 left in the game and a 3-0 advantage.
“I felt if we could get it to 2-0, we could win it,” Wolf said. “I figured Clarksville wasn’t going to score three times. We’ve given up four goals all year so I knew our defense could hold a 2-0 lead.”