Consol girls soccer team has no trouble with Horn

The A&M Consolidated Lady Tigers scored early in the opening half.

After halftime, they scored often.

Three second-half goals lifted A&M Consolidated to a 4-0 win over Mesquite Horn on Tuesday in a Class 5A Region II bi-district match at Waco ISD Stadium.

"We won the toss and chose to go into the win at the beginning of the game," A&M Consolidated coach Stoney Pryor said. "I thought the wind might pick up. It certainly didn't drop off."

Horn helped. Katie Berlund's corner kick came close to the goal for Consol but three Horn players were bunched together and the ball bounced off of Brooke Dotson, giving the Lady Tigers a 2-0 advantage.

That built momentum for the Lady Tigers, who opened up the field, where they had the advantage. Their lead grew to 3-0 when the ball was passed back out to Berlund who struck her shot up and in the right corner of the goal.

Consol's last score was its best. Ashlynn Ford bent a long pass to Avery Burns, who chipped it in. It was a reward for Burns, who kept the pressure on during the physical match.

The match opened in 59-degree weather with a high wind.

"It was nice to get an early goal going into the wind and we felt we had some speed advantages in a couple of different places," Pryor said. "When we got the wind, it really opened the game up to play some longer balls."

The Lady Tigers put pressure on with their first offensive possession with Kallie Krivdo and Avery Burns working a give-and-go, but Horn goalkeeper Lexie Hurley knocked away Burns' shot.

Seconds later, Consol made a successful change. Hurley knocked away the shot attempt by Vicky Wilhelm, but the ball rolled to the right side of the goal where Burns redirected it, carefully placing it into the Mesquite Horn net, just 2:02 into the game.

In a windy first half, Consol had better chances to add to its lead than the Lady Jaguars did to catch up. The best chance for Horn started on Dotson's pass to Briona Reid. The speedy left winger had a step advantage to the sideline, but her shot to the near post was brought in by Consol goalkeeper Christina Salas. Salas also cut off a corner kick try from Sarah Eckstein.

The Lady Tigers had two good chances, when Wilhelm got a shot off a free kick from Morgan Anderson. Wilhelm's shot sailed high, hitting the football crossbar behind the goal.

Blake Martin had a shot off a corner kick that was taken in low in front of the goal.