Regional soccer: Washington dominates Bay in Region 1-4A

PANAMA CITY - The fourth time was not the charm.

Bay hoped to end a losing streak against Pensacola Washington in Thursday’s Region 1-4A

girls soccer quarterfinal. Instead, the Wildcats exploded from the opening whistle to set the tone and secured a 5-0 victory at Tommy Oliver Stadium. Washington (16-5-4) advanced to play Gulf Breeze, an 8-0 winner over Arnold, in next week’s regional semifinal.

Bay, which lost to Washington in the regional opener for the fourth straight time, finished its season 15-7-1.

“We were very flat and we don’t have a reason for it,” Bay coach Blythe Carpenter said. “There aren’t any positives that can be taken from this at all.”

Bay’s hopes for a tight match began to wither in the third minute, as Clarissa Hernandez scored the first of her two goals to give Washington a 1-0 advantage. The shot was lofted crisply over the head of Bay goalkeeper Suzie Turnage, who had seven saves. More easy goals followed, especially when Bay’s defense failed to challenge Washington shooters.

Hernandez made the match 2-0 with a blast into the right corner after she had ample time to work into the middle of the field. Kirsten Langley, who also had two goals, scored just before the halfway-point water break to give the Wildcats a commanding 3-0 lead.

“I really felt that when it was 3-0 we had no chance of coming back based on the way we were playing,” Carpenter said.

Bay didn’t record its first shot until the 16th minute. The Tornadoes were outshot 16-5 in the match.

Bay’s best chance to cut into the deficit came in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Tornadoes controlled the ball, keeping it in their offensive end, but they came away with no shots and one corner kick against a staunch Washington defense.

The lack of any score during the opening minutes of the second half further demoralized the Tornadoes, who watched Meagan Williams score with 28 minutes to play. Langley capped the night on a shot from the left side after an uncontested crossing pass from Sammi Ernest.

“My midfield totally dominated the match and that’s why we won,” Washington coach Kenny Morgan said. “They were just moving the ball so well on the field and all of our goals were pretty good shots.

“You’ll have good luck when that happens because no goalkeeper will be able to stop them all.”

Carpenter would have liked her team to play more aggressively, but the early onslaught took away any hopes of moving on.

“I can’t understand why we weren’t up and why we were flat,” Carpenter said. “This is getting to be increasingly disappointing when we continuously end our season with a loss to the same opponent.”