PORT NECHES — Port Neches-Groves senior Mikayla Johnson admitted she forgot what scoring felt like at halftime of Friday’s match against Nederland.
Johnson refreshed her scoring memory in the second half and junior Hailey Loupe did the same as the Lady Indians defeated the Lady Bulldogs 3-2.
Johnson’s goal came with 9:22 left in the match to tie the score at 2-2. Loupe’s goal with 5:17 gave PN-G the winning edge. Loupe assisted on Johnson’s goal.
“We knew we had to go hard,” Johnson said of the late-game flurry. “Nederland is an awesome team with great players. This match always comes down to who wants it more.”
The Lady Bulldogs (13-4-1, 8-2-1) took a 2-1 lead with 21:33 left in the match as Meg Sheppard scored her second goal of the match. This one came off an assist from Tatum Kieschnick.
PN-G (12-6-2, 8-3-1) kept pushing against a very talented Nederland defense that is spearheaded by second team All-State keeper Emma Roccaforte.
Loupe’s assist to Johnson to tie the match was a great pass that set Johnson up with a one-on-one.
Nederland coach Keith Barrow said, going into it, the duo of Loupe and Johnson were the Lady Indians to keep an eye on the entire match. It was Johnson who set up Loupe’s first goal with 12:13 left in the first half and then Loupe again who won the match.
“We knew they were going to try and take those two away,” PN-G coach Aimee Bates said. “We tried to do a few different things to get them free. In the end, it is really hard to keep both Hailey and Mikayla down. They are great players.”
Sheppard was all over the field for the Lady Bulldogs for the entire match. She scored off an assist from the speedy Madison Ledet with 1:21 left in the first half to tie the contest at 1-1.
It stayed that way until Sheppard’s second goal.
“This was one of the best matches ever,” Bates said. “This was a player’s game. It is hard being a coach and not being able to be out there during one like this. Libbie [LeJeune] was so smart tonight. Ledet and Sheppard are so amazing for Nederland.”
LeJeune had two key saves late in the match to protect the lead. She first came up with the ball with 3:54 left on a Nederland corner. She then saved another shot with 22 seconds left and came up with this one in front of a lot of traffic.
Nederland is back home Tuesday for Senior Night against Baytown Lee. PN-G is on the road Tuesday against Ozen.