In their first two 7A-Central games of the season, the Northside Grizzlies won both by identical 1-0 scores.

So, when the Grizzlies broke a scoreless tie eight minutes into Tuesday’s match against Little Rock Catholic, it seemed things were to break in favor of Northside once more.

However, nearly three minutes later, the Rockets broke the Grizzlies’ scoreless streak in conference play. Then nearly two minutes after that, Catholic got another goal to go in front and eventually went on to a 2-1 win at Mayo-Thompson Stadium in a match-up of two teams which were in a three-way tie for first place in the 7A-Central as action resumed following spring break.

“The first half, it was just too many turnovers, we just couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Northside coach Mauricio Maciel said. “Any team that gives that many turnovers not only cannot get into the game but gives the other team another chance and that’s just way too many turnovers for us.”

Catholic (3-0 in the conference) got on the board with less than 29 minutes left as Elliot Enderlin found the top part of the net during a sequence where several Northside players thought there was a stoppage in play.

“On that first goal, we need to do better of making sure that we play the whistle,” Maciel said. “They had a player down and everybody was calling for the ball to be put out of bounds so that he could get treatment, and unfortunately they kept playing and we stopped playing and that’s how they got that first goal.

“But we need to learn to play the whistle and not hear what’s going on around us, we play by the whistle.”

Then, with more than 26 minutes left, a pass from Rocket player Brett Haley found its way to a wide-open teammate, Rowan Thomas, from about 7 yards away. Thomas easily knocked the ball in for the eventual go-ahead goal.

The Grizzlies (8-2, 2-1) had numerous scoring chances over the final 23 minutes, but weren’t able to capitalize. They went wide left on a pair of shots, and then off a corner kick from midfielder Jesus Rodriguez with less than eight minutes to go, Catholic’s Joseph Weinsinger headed the ball away in front of the net.

“That is the one thing that is comforting for me is the fact that I know we can put ourselves in front of goal,” Maciel said. “But in these tight games, you have to make sure that you convert the chances that you get; otherwise, they’re going to come back to haunt you.

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“But definitely, we can put ourselves in front of goal, we just need to make sure that we finish and we’re a little bit more brave going to goal and convince ourselves that we can score.”

Northside’s lone goal came with 32 minutes remaining in the second half. Jason Mendoza used his feet to elude a pair of Catholic defenders before finding senior Cesar Ramirez, who struck the lower left corner of the net to put the Grizzlies up 1-0, a lead which turned out to be just temporary.

The Grizzlies will now head to Conway on Friday. Prior to Tuesday, Northside was tied atop the 7A-Central with Catholic and Conway.

“I think despite this loss, we can still come back and play well, even at their place (Catholic) when we play them again,” Maciel said.
