Southlake beats Plano to advance to state
Published 4/10/2011 8:14:22 AM by william wilkerson from star-telegram
Southlake Carroll is well aware of the fact that its first loss of the season would also be its last. But the Dragons (26-0-3) are also cognizant that two more victories will render that fact useless. That became the case on a extremely gusty Saturday when little-used sophomore Ty Cummings made the play of his young career in a 1-0 double overtime victory over Plano (20-3-3) in the Class 5A Region 1 final.
Facing a swirling wind that had sparked a grass fire a few miles from the stadium, Ty Cummings, who had been in the game for only five minutes, chased down a cross pass from Mac McGuire that was headed out of bounds just outside the penalty box. He gathered, turned and shot the ball back in front of the net, forcing Plano's goalie to dive for the ball. However, the ball was deflected toward Juan Carlos Flores, who tapped the ball in for the winner with about 8 minutes left.
"I just turned, hit it and luckily Juan was there to follow it in," Cummings said. "When we scored I was just picturing winning and getting to state. I'm just so excited to get to Georgetown and play again."
Relentless defense by the Dragons, who set a school record with their 20th shutout, played a large role in Carroll advancing to this week's state tournament. The Dragons will play Strake Jesuit in the semifinals Friday. The final is 6 pm Saturday.
Carroll last reached the state tournament in 2002, when it lost in the 4A semifinals to Dallas Highland Park 2-1. The Dragons won the 2001 4A state championship with a 2-1 shootout victory over Brenham.
The game played out like Carroll coach Greg Oglesby had envisioned -- a low scoring affair between two evenly matched teams. Oglesby said the wind hurt the Dragons because "we are a very technical team." But they battled through it and even scored their goal facing the wind off of the first varsity assist from Cummings.
Label: Southlake soccer, Ty Cummings, Juan Carlos Flores
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