MOULTRIE – After the Colquitt County girls soccer team dropped a disappointing 2-1 overtime decision to Tift County at home on February 21, Lady Packers coach Carlos Bautista knew his team needed to make amends.
And the team’s chance came last Friday in Tifton.
The Lady Packers made the best of it in a 3-0 victory.
Colquitt’s girls will attempt to go to 3-2 in the Region 1-6A standings when they travel on Tuesday to Valdosta to meet the Lady Wildcats.
Colquitt had little trouble with the Valdosta girls last month at Packer Park, winning 10-0.
The satisfying win over the Lady Devils – who also defeated the Lady Packers 5-0 and 1-0 last year – could provide some momentum with games against Valdosta, Cairo and Lowndes coming up over the next week.
The win over Tift was crucial because it gives the Lady Packers the tie-breaker advantage should the two teams finish with the same region record and a playoff berth hanging in the balance.
“We knew we had to beat Tifton by two goals,” Bautista said. “And after we lost, we felt like we had the better team.
“And part of that was on me. I didn’t feel we had been aggressive enough.”
Going into the rematch, “I didn’t think we could be conservative. We had to go out and trust ourselves.”
After losing to Tift last month, the Colquitt girls had dropped three more in a row before heading to Tifton.
But one was a 2-1 loss to Thomasville. Another was a 3-1 defeat at home to Lee County.
So to put their 1-2 region record and 2-5 overall mark behind them and concentrate on the task at hand, Bautista scheduled a closed-door practice at the Ray Goff-Virgil Seay Indoor Facility.
“We wanted no distractions,” he said. “We knew we were headed into a hostile environment.
“And we were very, very focused.”
To give his team the best chance to score on the Lady Devils, the Lady Packers used a formation that was “very heavy up top,” Bautista said. “All our offensive girls were out there.”
Bautista said he knew his emphasis on offense might weaken his defense and “It could all go south.”
But junior Jackie Choc got Colquitt on the board with a goal that put the Lady Packers up 1-0 at the half.
“And to be honest, we felt like it should have been 3-0,” said the Lady Packers second-year head coach. “And we knew we still had another 40 minutes that might help us make state.”
In the second half, the momentum shifted at times to the Lady Devils, but with about nine minutes remaining, Jennifer Cano scored off an assist from Choc.
Despite the 2-0 lead, Bautista could not breathe easy until freshman Judith Moctezuma scored three minutes later.
“That was the icing on the cake,” he said.
Bautista also gave kudos to his team’s defense – which featured three freshmen or two freshmen and a sophomore – for pitching the shutout.
Rhylee Tillery was strong in the nets and sophomore Taylor Hewett “really came up big.”
Colquitt still has two games against both Lowndes and Camden County and one more region-leading Richmond Hill remaining.
But Bautista likes where his young team – which features five freshmen and seven sophomores – finds itself.
The Lady Packers now must get by Valdosta, 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the region – to help keep its goal of qualifying for the state tournament alive.