With 17 minutes left in the first half, Flower Mound Marcus forward Maddie Patterson plowed her way through the Coppell girls soccer team’s defense, firing the ball across the left side of the goal. The shot goes in. A three-goal Marcus lead left Coppell scrambling for a miracle during halftime. 

Prior to the match, Coppell was in first place in District 6-6A, with Marcus following closely behind in fifth. Following the Marauders’ 4-0 victory against the Cowgirls on Saturday at Buddy Echols Field, Marcus is now second in district and Coppell third.

Marcus midfielder/defender Piper Garcia scored the first goal seven minutes after kickoff, establishing the tone for the match and proving that the Marauders would not be easily defeated.

Throughout the match, Patterson proved to be a force to be reckoned with, providing Marcus (3-1-1) with three of the four goals it scored. 

With 10 minutes remaining in the match, Patterson dribbled down the right side of the field, plowing her way closer and closer to Coppell’s goal, the Cowgirls’ defense lost in the play. Coppell freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Clark sprinted off the goal line, meeting Patterson at the edge of the box. 

Before Clark could reach her, Patterson took her shot, falling just out of Clark’s reach, right into the bottom center of the goal, Marcus finalizing its 4-0 lead. 

“We gave them too much space to play in the first half which gave them some opportunities we would not like to create and unfortunately we didn’t finish the opportunities that we created,” Coppell coach Craig Able said. “But that’s the nature of the game sometimes.”

As the Cowgirls (3-1-1) approach their match against Hebron next Tuesday, they look to regain their stride. 

“No one is looking to change things [after today’s game],” Able said. “[We’re looking to go] back to doing what we do well, making sure that we don’t pressure ourselves, that we allow ourselves to execute the game plan that we roll out each day and that we go out, we work hard and we play hard as a team.”

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