The Clinton Lady Dark Horses soccer team finds itself in familiar territory this afternoon – the infamous fourth round. Having become known as the “fourth round curse” due to several promising seasons being upended at this stage, the Lady Dark Horses look to embrace of the challenge of breaking the curse.
They’ll get that opportunity at 6 p.m. this afternoon when they travel to take on the No. 1 seed Croatan Cougars.
The Lady Cougars have had an impressive run in reaching this weekends quarterfinals, boasting a trio of 9-0 mercy-rules along the way. First against No. 32 Beddingfield, then No. 17 South Lenoir, and most recently No. 8 Jordan-Matthews – one by one, Croatan has smashed the competition on their relentless run to the fourth round.
The Lady Cougars enter the match with a 21-3 overall record and Champions of the Coastal Eight 1A/2A Conference. Two of the Croatan’s three losses came all the way back at the beginning of the season, resulting in an 0-2 start to their journey.
One of those loses was against Clinton – a 2-1 loss in the Battle at the Beach tournament on March 1. From there, Croatan mounted an 18-game winning streak, including picking up a revenge win against the Lady Dark Horses a week later on March 8 at The Brittany, 3-1. It’s noteworthy to mention that senior standout Ashlyn Williams was absent during this game.
For Clinton, the Lady Dark Horses have had a similarly successful run to the fourth round.
They mercy-ruled South Columbus 9-0 in the first round, then took another impressive 6-1 against No. 20 Southwest Onlsow in the second round. The Lady Stallions tallied the lone goal of the postseason against Clinton as the Lady Dark Horses pounced on No. 12 Wheatmore in the third round, 8-0.
Clinton’s resumre is a 21-4-1 overall record. They were also conference champions, going undefeated at 12-0 in the East Central Conference.
Entering Saturday’s match at 1-1 against one another this season, the tiebreaker is sure to be a dandy. Can the Lady Dark Horses break the “Round Four Curse” and secure their spot in the East Regional Final?
Whoever comes out victorious in this battle will have facethe winner of No. 6 First Flight and No. 2 Carrboro. If everything works out perfectly, Tuesday’s game could come back to the Dark Horse Soccer Complex.
Regardless, the only goal for Clinton today is to get the win and break the curse.