S P O RT S
BY: JOSH HELMER COM M UNI TY
State Champs
t helped that the Timberwolves have been in a state championship game before. Two years ago, Norman North fell to Tulsa Union, 2-0. They were down a body for a large stretch of the big game after an untimely red card. But no amount of adversity was keeping these Timberwolves from the title this time around and they proved as much, defeating Mustang, 2-0, in the 6A girls soccer state title game at Taft Stadium.
Still, there were some nervous moments as senior defender Elle Abbey was assessed a red card with 22:59 remaining in the second half after colliding with Mustang’s Ellise Foreman, leaving North with just 10 players for the remainder of the game. “Relax,” North head coach Trevor Laffoon told his squad after the red card. He reminded his team that they had been in a more precarious situation than this earlier in the season against 58 | June 2019
Norman High when they played the final 70 minutes down a player. North won that Crosstown Clash 1-0. “For us, just having all those older players, you could tell right as it happened that everyone was talking to each other,’” Laffoon said. “We’re lucky we had that opportunity happen before the state title. It helped the girls mentally.” Senior forward Jenna Miller detailed how her team kept it together.
“Our emotions were already running high. We were only up one goal. They were starting to get a little bit of momentum,” Miller said. “Jamie [McGinnis], Kenzie [Williams] and I, we all looked at each other and said, ‘we’re going to play for the people that are left on this field.’ That really calmed us down and made us just play for each other.” North leaned on its defense and senior goalkeeper Allison Austin, who recorded five saves in the final 23 minutes. Then,
the T-Wolves got the opening Laffoon had told his team to expect at halftime.
“I told the girls, ‘they’re going to start throwing players forward, throwing numbers forward, so we’re going to get one or two chances. We need to make sure we put them away,’” Laffoon said. Senior midfielder Katie Fowler connected on a pass with Miller behind the defense who lofted her shot past Mustang keeper Ashlee Jackson at the front of the box and into the back of the net. Norman North had doubled its lead and gotten the breathe-easy goal they were looking for. “When Katie got the ball, I started running because I knew if I could outrun the back line, I could get another goal,” Miller said. Laffoon called it her best goal of her senior year.
“Right as Katie played the ball through,
Photos by: Mark Doescher
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Norman North Girls Soccer Wins 6A Crown
