UPDATE — Strong Port Neches-Groves soccer season comes to an end in the playoffs
Published 1:00 pm Friday, April 5, 2024
- Port Neches-Groves High School coach Aimee Bates works with her team prior to the end of the regular season. (Chris Moore/The News)
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EDITOR’S NOTE: PNG battled Hendrickson at 1 p.m. Friday at Humble Turner Stadium in the Class 5A Regional Girls Soccer semifinal.
Port Nechs-Groves fell 1-0 after the game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
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PORT NECHES — Port Neches-Groves girls soccer continues to excel, as the team advances to the regional semifinal for the second consecutive year following a 3-0 win Tuesday over Friendswood.
The victory gave PNG its 26th victory of the season, which is the most in the program’s history.
The game also marked the 18th shutout of the season. PNG has outscored opponents 135-19 on the season. The team has outscored playoff opponents 17-0 in the first three rounds, which is also a program record.
“On both fronts, we are scoring lots of goals, and defensively, we are keeping them out of our net, and that keeps us in games,” head coach Aimee Bates said.
PNG’s girls squad has made it to the fourth round in 2015-2019 and last year.
The team never has not made it past the fourth round.
The Indians next take on Hendrickson at 1 p.m. Friday in Humble.
“We’re very excited,” Bates said. “The girls have done well in all three playoff games. They’re very driven, focused and showing up to take care of business.”
Emerey Riley scored the team’s first goal with 24:12 left in the first half, followed up by a score from Emma Bates with 5:07 before halftime.
Senior captain Holly Husen put the game away with the team’s final goal with 22:08 left in the game.
Bates said her team has been locked in all season and she can usually tell prior to the game if her team is up to the challenge.
“You can sense it a little on the bus ride,” Bates said. “We always have a pregame meeting, wherever we are at. We meet off to the side and do some team stuff, and that is when I can feel it and see it. I can tell they are ready for the battle they are about to play.”
The team has been used to excellence all year.
PNG, which is on a 10-game winning streak, finished the season 13-1 in district play and hasn’t allowed a goal since March 19 and only allowed five goals since the start of February.
