Northside soccer coach Mauricio Maciel spent a little extra time with his team following Tuesday’s 6A-Central opener with Bryant.

There was no yelling. He didn’t raise his voice.

But he believes he delivered the message following a surprising 2-1 loss.

The defending 6A champs were a tad late on just about everything they did, Maciel said.

“We were late to our markings,” he said. “We just seemed to be a step behind. That’s something you can correct. But you have to come out and practice hard.”

Northside missed an early chance to score when Luis Paredes’ goal was taken off the board via an offsides penalty.

Bryant (2-2-1, 1-0) scored the game’s first goal at the 11:34 mark on J.J. Giron’s goal.

But Northside (5-3, 0-1) quickly tied the game less than two minutes later on a penalty kick. Junior Christian Chavez slipped one past keeper Martin Ramirez with 9:49 left to play in the half.

“I thought it was a very physical game, and there were some calls that could have gone either way, on both sides, and that was a key,” Maciel said. “We knew coming in Bryant would be physical. But with the roster we have, I believe we can go down there and win at their place the next time we play them.”


Maciel changed goalies at the half, only because he thought senior Juan Rivera was more physical.

“Mickey Zambrana played the first half,” he said. “I thought Juan was just a little more physical.”


Tied at 1, Bryant broke through for the go-ahead goal via Grant Jacuzzi’s header in the 60th minute.

“I don’t think this group will panic,” Maciel said. ”(But) have to be better at marking; we have to play with intensity. That’s what I told them.”

The Grizzlies travel to Little Rock on Thursday to play Central.

Bryant 6, Northside 0

GIRLS — The Bryant Lady Hornets defeated Northside on Tuesday, 6-0.


The Lady Bears (4-3, 0-1) travel to Central on Thursday.

Senior Alyssa Fason got the scoring going with a goal at the 33:44 mark of the first half.

Ashton Inman’s goal with 13:51 left in the first half gave the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Byant (4-0, 1-0) added to its lead at the 31:41 mark when Madison Humbard’s header found a crease.

Rachel Studdard and Grace Carmack added second half goals.
