The Alcovy Lady Tigers and Tigers varsity soccer teams hosted Locust Grove Wednesday night at Sharp Stadium, splitting with the visiting Wildcats in non-region action.

In the opening game, the Tigers downed Locust Grove 4-3, while the Lady Tigers fell in the nightcap 10-1.
In the first game of the evening, Houston Kent dazzled the Alcovy fans with a four-goal performance, bringing the Tigers back from a 1-0 deficit for the win.

The Wildcats scored the first goal of the game in just a matter of minutes, giving Locust Grove a 1-0 lead, but then Houston started his impressive scoring run.

Midway through the half at the 17:17 mark, Kent netted his first goal of the game, tying the score at 1-1. Nine minutes later, the Wildcats regained the lead on their second goal of the half, taking a 2-1 advantage.
Kent scored another goal at 3:10 in the first half, tying the score at 2-2 before the half.

The second half saw a more physical style of play by both teams, which lead to a greater defensive effort from both teams. However, at the 21:05 mark in the second half, Kent scored his third goal of the game, putting the Tigers in front 3-2 for their first lead of the game.

Nine minutes later, Kent netted his fourth score, and the Tigers final goal of the game, pushing Alcovy’s advantage to 4-2. Despite trailing, the Wildcats scored once more in the game with 6:48 remaining, but Locust Grove’s offensive couldn’t make another late push, falling 4-3.

“I really feel like I helped lead the way tonight because there’s always great pressure on me,” Houston said. “I’m glad I could help the team to the win.”

Lady Tigers fall short
In the second game of the evening, the Lady Tigers faced off against the Lady Wildcats, losing 10-1.
Locust Grove poured on the scoring in the first half, netting eight goals in the opening period.

“I told them that if they were going to get beat, they needed to get beat hustling and caring about the game” Lady Tigers coach Anna Hebert said. “I feel like they played with some care for the game throughout the entire second half.”

The rout started just a few minutes into the game, with the Lady Wildcats taking a 1-0, and a few minutes later at 33:34 mark, Locust Grove scored their second goal of the game from Alex Travis.
Holding a 2-0 lead, the Lady Wildcats scored six consecutive goals in an eight minute span. Three scores came from Travis during the run while the Lady Wildcats’ Tor Ebersole added another three, extending Locust’s Grove lead to 8-0 at the break.

In the second half, the Lady Tigers scored their first and only goal of the game with 14:09 remaining on a goal from Katie Barton.

However, the Lady Wildcats added two more goals to their lead and went on to win the game 10-1.
Alcovy returns to action Friday when it travels to Newton to take on the Rams in region play.