Hoy Leads Lady Scots to State Title Game
By Sean Shapiro / Special Contributor
GEORGETOWN — Highland Park coach Stewart Brown wasn’t too worried about having a freshman goalie in a shootout with a trip to the Class 6A state championship game on the line.
“Freshmen don’t understand how big it is,” Brown said.
As it turns out, Ginny Hoy was even more in the dark than her coach thought on the situation. But that didn’t prevent her from stopping Shaylee Anaya in the sixth shootout round and securing a 1-0 victory.
The Lady Scots (25-0-2) won the shootout 4-3 against Katy Cinco Ranch (23-3) at Birkelbach Field in a state semifinal on Friday.
“I didn’t know it was the last one,” Hoy said. “I didn’t know if I missed it if they would win. But I just kind of guessed, and I didn’t know we were going to win [if I made the save].”
Hoy had a little bit of luck to help force the sixth round. Cinco Ranch had a chance to win the game in the fifth round, but Halle Dure blasted her shot over the crossbar and gave Highland Park a second chance.
The Lady Scots capitalized after Natalie Dargene scored and Hoy made her stop, guessing the right way after looking at how Anaya had angled her foot.
Highland Park will play Coppell in the 6A championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday. It will be a matchup of the two ranked teams in the country by Top Drawer Soccer, with Coppell first and Highland Park second.
“Why not?” Brown said. “It’s a great advertisement for Texas high school soccer.”
Coppell defeated San Antonio Reagan 1-0 in the first semifinal Friday, capitalizing on a goal with 46 seconds remaining after dominating possession and outshooting Reagan 15-2.
While Coppell narrowly avoided overtime, Highland Park and Cinco Ranch squared off in a tactical battle that went the full 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime without a goal.
Highland Park fired four shots during regulation, but couldn’t find open space behind Cinco Ranch goalie Kendall Hollo.
Hoy only made one save in regulation, but she did make a key play with 12 minutes remaining when she knocked a bouncing ball away from a Cinco Ranch forward to thwart a partial breakaway.
“She’s always been back there making big saves for us,” Brown said. “She’s done that throughout the playoffs and it didn’t surprise me when she did it today.”
