CLASS 5A GIRLS

Sophomore kicks Harrison in gear

Photo By Wesley Hitt --05/23/2014-- Anna Lants #15 of the Pulaski Academy Lady Bruins keeps the ball away from Shelby McGarrah #4 of the Harrison Lady Golden Goblins at the 2014 5A Girls High School Soccer Finals at Razorback Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Photo By Wesley Hitt --05/23/2014-- Anna Lants #15 of the Pulaski Academy Lady Bruins keeps the ball away from Shelby McGarrah #4 of the Harrison Lady Golden Goblins at the 2014 5A Girls High School Soccer Finals at Razorback Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Harrison battled back from an early 2-0 deficit, scoring the game's last two goals to edge Pulaski Academy 4-3 for the Class 5A girls state soccer championship Friday afternoon at Razorback Field.

Pulaski Academy had jumped out to a 2-0 advantage barely 11 minutes into the game on goals by Mackie Kuhn and Anna Lants, but Harrison kept its composure and had pulled even going into halftime.

Harrison fell behind 3-2 in the second half, but it still managed to maintain its composure and scored twice in the span of a minute late in the game to pull out the victory. It was Harrison's fourth state title overall, and its first since 2011.

"I think the game went the way I expected it to," Harrison Coach Chris Pratt said. "I figured it would be a one-goal game unless we came out and blew their doors off ... and of course that wasn't going to happen.

"They came out, scored two goals on us early, and we made a few mistakes but we learned from them. We really did not give them any of those opportunities the rest of the game."

Kuhn scored her goal from just inside the key with 32:30 left in the first half, and just more than a minute later Gracie Bailey scored off a free kick to make it 2-0 with 30:10 left

"We knew coming in that they were going to kick the ball high on [Shelby] Baugh," Pratt said of his goalkeeper, who is just 5-1. "It was dumb play on our part that they got that free kick and put ourselves in a 2-0 hole, but I wasn't too concerned about it.

"We were able to get in behind them early. I knew we would be able to get behind them again. It was just a matter of time."

Harrison sophomore Carlee Spears, who was named as the tournament MVP, put the Lady Goblins on her back and helped them stay in the game. Spears scored Harrison's first goal at the 19:30 mark. She had two more shots on goal stopped before she connected on her fourth attempt at the 10:42 mark, tying the score at 2-2 going into intermission.

"You could just see our energy level go way up after Carlee's two goals," Pratt said. "Carlee was outstanding today. She completely ran herself out of gas. She left it all out there on the field. I could not be any more proud of her."

The Lady Bruins weren't quite ready to give it up taking a 3-2 on a goal by Meri-Shaye Walker less than seven minutes into the second half.

It looked like that might stand as the final score until Harrison's Katie Jones scored a goal off her left foot with 7:55 left to play.

Not even 50 seconds later, Jones drew a foul inside the penalty box to set up a penalty kick for the Lady Goblins with 7:07 left and Shelby McGarrah scored for a 4-3 lead. The Lady Goblins then turned it over to their defense, which fended off the Lady Bruins the rest of the way.

Sports on 05/24/2014

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