Harnett Central girls soccer close to ending its time in 4A

After many long years in of play in the 4A ranks of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, Harnett Central will return to 3A next season. It comes at a great time for the Trojans’ girls soccer team.

“We were one of the smallest 4A schools when we moved up 8 years ago,” HC head coach Johnny Pilkington said. “We’re going back where we belong.”

And the Trojans will be a battle-tested bunch with a young core of players gaining nothing but confidence after a strong finish made them 8-11-1 (4-9-1) to push them into the playoffs. Harnett Central is the No. 32 overall seed and visits No. 3 Wakefield, the unbeaten No. 1 subregional seed of the East.

“Even in our league we are in right now, no one throws us off the field,” Pilkington said. “We go out there and compete very well.”

With no junior varsity feeder program, taking lumps is a rite of passage in Angier.

Freshman defender Alexis Gordon said it’s no problem.

“First, we’ve played against some of the 3A teams and done well,” she said. “We’ve seen their skill level and I think we match up well against them. And we have beat them. It’s a big confidence booster for the majority of our team.”

The Trojans got season sweeps of future conference and current county rivals Triton (3-1 and 4-0) and Western Harnett (7-0 and 9-2).

“Right now, we are playing the tougher teams and being confident,” junior defender Hannah Nutt said. “That shows us a lot about ourselves. We are competing now against 4A teams, so we know we can compete in 3A.”

Gordon is one of three freshmen in the back for the Trojans, joining Madeline Langdon and sometimes midfielder Austin Bowling, who Pilkington called “one of the best freshmen” he’s ever coached.

“Our strength has been our backs,” the coach said. “And (senior) goalkeeper Bree Colbert. They’ve more than held their own.

Tenacious play has come from junior forward Jessica Martinez, sophomore McKinley Heston, freshman midfielder Jolee Nicholson and freshman midfielder Sydney Porter.

“We’ve had trouble scoring at times, but we are young,” Pilkington said. “We’ll continue to grow and soon you’ll see better results.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Harnett Central girls soccer close to ending its time in 4A."