Steps slowed, shoulders slumped, and then, with three final whistles, the Hunt girls soccer team's season was over.
Despite a furious comeback and several great chances in the final minutes, the Lady Warriors came up short in a 3-2 loss against Jacksonville in their N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A third-round game at Hunt and ended their playoff hopes.
"You know, we had one, two, three, four opportunities, but we just couldn't net the ball," Hunt head coach Drew Nick said. "But, I told the girls that if they left everything on the field, then there's nothing to hang their heads about. The best teams in the world lose.
"We had a phenomenal season, and there's nothing to be sad about, though I know they're sad."
The Lady Warriors finished the season 21-3 with a win against archrival Fike and both the Eastern Carolina Conference regular season and conference tournament crowns.
And though, they were disappointed to see their senior season end, Astin Barnes, Monica Campbell and Whitney Hesmer were still pleased with how their team played all season and what it accomplished, with its best season in recent memory and ending it with its deepest playoff run in nine years.
"I am so proud of our team, and I'm so glad we ended our season year like this," Hesmer said.
"I wouldn't have had it any other way," Barnes added.
Hunt, with its leading scorer on the bench because of a red card Saturday, almost didn't give itself a chance early.
Jacksonville, the No. 2 team from the Mideastern Conference, grabbed the lead just 22 seconds in when, following a shot off the crossbar, Stephanie Spring scored on a scramble in front of the net. Then the Lady Cardinals added another goal with 23 minutes remaining in the half when Okina Crawley fielded a deflection and fired a shot to the far post.
"We started off on fire," Jacksonville head coach Dave Miller said. "Then I think we kind of relaxed with that early lead. Hunt put some really good pressure on us, made it back-and-forth. And in the second half, I thought Hunt was the better team ... gave us some fits."
The Lady Warriors pulled within a goal four minutes later when Katie Wilson perfectly placed a corner kick into the middle of the box, right at the mouth of the goal, where Lizzie Madden headed it in.
But again, Jacksonville grabbed a two-goal lead with 16:30 left in the half when Jessica Barton scored on Britney Joiner's corner kick for a 3-1 advantage.
The Lady Warriors came right back as Hunt's Lizzie Pittman, wide open in front of the net, took a pass from Ashley Batchelor along the left endline and slid it into the left corner.
"Once we scored the scored the second goal, we realized that we were still in the game," Barnes said. "It wasn't over yet, and after that we kept them scoreless and tried really hard to keep ourselves in it."
The key, though, was stopping the Lady Cardinals' midfield, which has recently been stung by injuries. The Lady Warriors' defense helped to cramp the defensive half and keep them in the game.
"They were able to contain a lot of shots that were taken," goalkeeper Campbell said of the defense. "So it could've been a lot worse than three goals."
After being outshot 11-5 in the first half, Hunt grabbed the edge in the second half, 5-3 -- with five good chances on goal.
"The girls finally got into a rhythm and just knew they were always in the game," Nick said. "They never had that 'oh, it's over feeling.' It was always, 'keep the pressure on, keep playing hard, we'll get our opportunities,' and we did. "
But on the other side, Jacksonville, never gaining a comfortable lead, had to weather the Lady Warriors' late-game pressure and a couple Hunt corner kicks, on which it was been deadly recently.
"I mean, I was nervous," Miller said. "But the girls never really seemed fazed and never lost their composure."
But even through the tears and disappointment, the Lady Warriors could at least take solace in its improvement and almost feel them pull themselves up for next season.
"Last year, Jacksonville really put a whuppin' on us," Nick said, "and I think we're closing the gap. Playing better teams, getting better exposure, and now we have a very talented girls team."
mlindsay@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807