a tie

By

ADAM DAIGLE

NATCHEZ &8212; For the third time in as many seasons, the clock went to all zeroes on the Natchez High-Cathedral crosstown meeting with the scores all knotted up.

But instead of going to a shootout, the two teams opted to exchange post-game handshakes.

There was no shootout. The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Wave opted to take 2-2 tie to the house and prepare for divisional games in the coming weeks. The annual home-and-home series had games the last two years decided in a shootout &8212; both Natchez High wins &8212; but this time the Lady Wave balked at the idea.

&8220;We didn&8217;t want to go to a shootout,&8221; CHS head coach David Gaud/ said. &8220;We talked about it before the game, and in a non-district game I was letting the majority rule. We wanted to play to a tie if was a tie. We&8217;ve got a district game Friday.&8221;

In a game of this nature where it&8217;s basically sister against sister, no one with the Lady Bulldogs wanted to go home with a tie. They wanted to play it out and declare a winner or loser just as the previous two meetings ended up.

And they wanted a chance to finish it off after picking up their game considerably after a disappointing loss to Franklin County Monday night.

&8220;They didn&8217;t want to do the PKs,&8221; Natchez forward Jadtrl Heard said. &8220;We beat them twice with PKs. The game was so close. I thought we were going to win at the beginning, but they came back at the end. Our defense came up after yesterday&8217;s game. (Cathedral) picked up the pace in the second half, but the game was real close.&8221;

The outcome had to settle as a tie despite the Lady Wave picking up its game for most of the second half and tying the score in the first four minutes of the second half.

From there the team controlled the ball most of the half and allowed the Lady Bulldogs only two shots on goal &8212; both courtesy of Heard &8212; the entire half.

But it did leave everyone with a bit of an empty feeling afterward.

&8220;They definitely wanted to go to a shootout,&8221; NHS head coach Lena Yarbrough said of her players. &8220;They wanted a win or a loss &8212; preferably a win. My offense was definitely better &8212; a little more passing, a little more aggressiveness and a little more hustling out there today. The girls wanted to win this game today, especially after last night.&8221;

The Lady Wave, of course, could have finished it off in the second half and avoided the tie had one of its shots found the net. Jessie Merritt did that four minutes in when she put in a shot off a corner kick from Kristina Brumfield that tied the score at 2-2.

From there, the Lady Wave four chances to get it in but couldn&8217;t find it. Megan Whittington couldn&8217;t get two shots in, and at one point three consecutive corner kicks couldn&8217;t net a goal.

But it was better than the first half when the Lady Bulldogs controlled the ball most of the half and took the 2-1 lead.

&8220;I can&8217;t say enough about how good Natchez played after that bad loss,&8221; Gaud/ said. &8220;We&8217;re just slow starters out there. We can&8217;t seem to get going. We just seem to get more aggressive in the second half. It seems to take us a while to get to where we decide we want to win, and then we make better decisions, move the ball and have better fundamentals.&8221;

The Lady Bulldogs had better results in the first half and answered the Lady Wave&8217;s first goal in just over a minute to take a 2-1 lead. They had four shots in the half after two the entire second.

At one point Heard and Jessica Evans converged on the ball just inside the penalty box along with Cathedral keeper Abby Brown, but the ball emerged from the pack and rolled slowly into the goal to give Natchez the lead.

Heard scored the team&8217;s first goal on a breakaway in the first 10 minutes.

&8220;We lost a lot of our momentum (in the second half), as well as they got a little more aggressive,&8221; Yarbrough said. &8220;My defense lacked a little in their passing, and we&8217;ve worked on defense quite a bit. Kick it and go get it and get it out of the box. We want them to kick it up field to one of our players and know where they&8217;re kicking it.&8221;

The Lady Wave, playing without senior forward Kate Ellard, got off to that slow start and wouldn&8217;t have scored had it not been for the penalty kick opportunity Brumfield put in with just under 11 minutes left.

Ellard, out with a torn hamstring, may play Friday when the Lady Wave plays Franklin County to open division play.

Or she may play the following Tuesday.

&8220;We thought for a while it was ACL, so a ham looked good,&8221; Gaud/ said. &8220;She&8217;s definitely one of our stronger players, but the rest of my offense has stepped up. It may have actually helped us out to not have her a little and not have that huge reliance on her. But we&8217;ll be happy to have her back.&8221;