By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

 

RESERVE — Carley Craven’s goal with 10 minutes remaining proved to be the winning score for Destrehan Friday, as the Lady Wildcats overcame an early deficit to defeat East St. John, 3-2, at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium.

The loss was East St. John’s first of district play. For Destrehan, it brought a measure of payback from last season’s district finale between the teams that saw ESJ win and advance to the postseason via penalty kicks after two overtimes.

“We didn’t want to go into overtime. We remember last year’s match with the penalty kicks, and that was nerve-wracking,” said Craven. “Our entire team really played well today.”

East St. John (2-10, 2-1) scored early in the first half when Tyrionne Deary found the net off of an assist by Nyanza Bell.

Destrehan answered on a goal by Kaitlyn Guillotte that saw her win a one-on-one battle at the net.

Destrehan (3-4-2) took a 2-1 advantage going into the half on a Nicole Daigle kick from range.

But Bell tied things up early in the second half on her on strong shot at the goal.

DHS missed on a chance to take a 3-2 lead on a Daigle shot that just sailed wide of the net. But Destrehan maintained control of the ball as the second half rolled on, generating enough opportunities before Craven finally cashed in.

“I thought our speed made a difference,” said Craven. “We scored just before the half, and that was big too. We really had our momentum going after that.”

East St. John coach Joseph Perrilloux said that his team wore down as the match went on.

“We just got tired. Destrehan outplayed us,” said Perrilloux. “We controlled a lot of the action, but we just couldn’t finish when we had our chances.”

Perrilloux said that his team can learn to persevere from the loss — and must, if it is to make the postseason once again.

“Don’t quit,” said Perrilloux. “You’ve got to play the entire game. You can’t go 60 percent. You have to go 100 percent, or what happened today is going to happen again … We’ve got them again at their place. We’ve just gotta go get that one, now.”