The Madison County girls’ soccer team may have caught Apalachee overlooking them Tuesday night. The Wildcats are a 10-3-1 squad who plans on hosting a state playoff match.
But Apalachee was almost no match for the Red Raider’s, as Madison County had them locked 2-2 with a minute left on the clock. But Apalachee broke through for a game-winner in the final minute and the Lady Raiders took one of their most gut wrenching losses of the 2018 season.
“Apalachee is a great lead, last year they beat us 4-0,” said head coach Lee Reno. “I have a lot of respect for their coach, he always has a very well prepared team. First half we didn’t play that well, second half we came out with some motivation and we struck first. They came back and we caved because it’s always unsettling when you give up a goal. But we kept firing back and responding.”
Apalachee commanded the field for most of the game, but they were kept out of the goal for the entire first half. Kinley Phillips scored the first goal of the game right after halftime for Madison County. She found some space inside the box and drilled a shot into the top left corner of the net to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats came back to take the lead with goals at the 50th and 55th minutes, but the Lady Raiders didn’t lay down and they eventually earned a corner kick at the 65th minute. That kick was place perfectly for Stormie Melendez to fire a shot into the back of the net for the equalizer.
“It was one of the prettiest goals I’ve seen all season,” Reno said. “To get a volley off of a cross and bury it with that kind of authority is something to be proud of.”
Madison County had some chances to regain the lead in the final 14 minutes, but squandered all of them. Eventually Apalachee cranked up their attack and began hogging the ball. That paid off with a goal in the last minute to give them a 3-2 lead. The Lady Raiders had one more chance to score, but they couldn’t get the ball inside the box to attempt a shot before the buzzer sounded.
