Jacksonville girls clobber Carthage, 8-0, in bi-district round

Mar. 27—Note: The original version of this story has been corrected to reflect Emily Barerra as the Jacksonville goalkeeper.

Seniors Evelyn Lara and Victoria Villanueva made their final match at The Historic Tomato Bowl a memorable one by scoring two goals each and the Maidens went on to destroy Carthage, 8-0, in a Class 4A, Region II bi-district tilt Tuesday evening.

Jacksonville (20-3-1) will move to second round of the Class 4A, Region II playoffs where they will face Pleasant Grove (date, time and location to be announced). Pleasant Grove topped Lindale, Monday, to punch its ticket to the area round.

Carthage, the fourth place club out of District 15-4A wraps up its season with a 15-7-2 worksheet.

A Villanueva shot from eight yards out, right side, landed in the side net, giving the Maidens a 1-0 advantage at the 33:50 mark of the first half.

About 10:00 later, Lara connected for her first score of the match, which was the result of a header from about 4 yards away. Jewel McCullough was credited with an assist on the play.

After two short range goals from Lauren Wade and Villanueva, Jacksonville doubled its lead to 4-0 with 12:08 left in the opening half.

Itzel Arredondo capped off the Jacksonville scoring outburst in the first 40:00 of action by scoring off of a rebound from close range. The goal came with 7:45 showing on the clock.

The Maidens added three goals in the final half, with Lara chipping in from the right side, Sophia Romero powering a shot past the Carthage keeper from near the front-right post and Jizelle Castillo knocking one in from about 6 yards out off of a Wade assist.

"We were able to get a lot of good looks and Evelyn (Lara) and Victoria (Villanueva) were able to put the ball in the net for us," Jacksonville head girl's soccer coach Colten McCown said. "Victoria (Villanueva) worked her tail off out there tonight."

Carthage played a physical brand of soccer for most of the night, something McCown said that he was happy to see.

"Our scouting report on Carthage indicated that they would play physical and that's exactly what they did,"Jacksonville head girl's soccer coach Colten McCown said. "You need that now that playoff time is here."

Jacksonville goal keeper Emily Barerra made one save and earned a clean sheet.

The Maiden defense completely dominated the match as Carthage was out shot 43-16. The Lady Dawgs didn't get their first shot of the second half until the 16:27 mark.