Hobbton routs Southside, 6-0

Hobbton High School was the site of Thursday night’s second round of the NCHSAA 1A State Soccer Playoffs. The No. 4 seeded Lady Wildcats welcomed Southside High School into Newton Grove, who was the No. 13 seed entering the contest. This one easily went Hobbton’s way as the Lady Wildcats cruised into the third round with a 6-0 victory.

In the early minutes of the contest, Hobbton took early possession and applied plenty of pressure. Possession was held in the Lady Seahawks zone as the Lady Wildcats were on the prowl for a quick goal. They accomplished just that, walking the ball well into the zone and firing in a goal from Denisse Jorge with 37:22 left in the first half.

Hobbton continued to pressure Southside, using speed and efficient ball movement to continue to infiltrate the Lady Seahawks zone. After a couple of missed corner kicks, Southside finally managed a run out the other direction. Though not getting a substantive attack on the goal, the Lady Seahawks had momentarily turned away the Lady Wildcats’ relentless assault.

Though Hobbton appeared to be well in control, Southside was holding their own defensively and the clock moved to under 30 minutes to go before halftime. That’s when the Lady Seahawks again worked the ball into the opposite zone, again briefly putting a pause on the Wildcats attack. Hobbton, though, recovered and continued to pursue their second goal. They got back in deep and generated a shot on goal from McKayla Harris, who fired a rocket from the left side that found the back of the net, putting the score at 2-0 with 24:10 on the clock.

The tune of the game remained unchanged as Hobbton continued to apply pressure. Southside occasionally found ways to get the ball out, but Hobbton’s speed and ball movement was proving to be more than the Lady Seahawks could handle. Corner kicks and shots on goal were plentiful for the Lady Wildcats, but Southside held Hobbton off and the score remained 2-0 inside of 10 minutes.

Crystal Carrillo changed that, though, after she sent in a long-range shot that snuck in over the goalkeeper’s head, making it 3-0 with 4:44 left before the half.

Then, Jorge got back in on the act, hitting another goal with under a minute to go to stretch it to 4-0, which is what proved to be the halftime score.

Out of the break, the story was mostly unchanged. Hobbton continued to control the time of possession and was routinely generating shots at the goal.

Though initially unsuccessful in getting anything through, Jorge finally changed the score again for Hobbton, getting her third goal of the game with 26:59 left to make it 5-0.

The match gradually settled into a more back and forth affair that saw Southside get the ball across midfield on several occasions. That didn’t completely stop the Lady Wildcats, though, who tallied another goal late in the game.

With 10:06 left, Tanaja Snead got a run out and went to work against the Lady Seahawks defense. She battled in toward to go and found the back of the net, pushing Hobbton’s lead to 6-0.

With 1:30 left in the game, the Lady Wildcats began to work in some younger players. This helped Southside in getting a shot on goal, but it we turned away on a nice save.

After that, Hobbton worked the ball the other way and time expired a 6-0 Lady Wildcats victory.

With her hat trick performance, Jorge crossed into the 50 goal threshold on the season, setting a blistering pace as just a sophomore.

With the win, Hobbton is now 19-2 overall. They advance to Monday night’s third round, which the Lady Wildcats will host as they take on No. 5 seed Falls Lake.