Prep Soccer: Bulldogs season comes to an end

The Harrisburg High School's soccer team came to an unceremonious conclusion over the weekend in a 5-1 loss to Anna-Jonesboro in the IHSA regional at Massac County.

It was a banner season for the Bulldogs, who ended the fall campaign at 17-5, the most wins by a soccer team in the program's history.

"I am very proud of this bunch," HHS head coach Mike Stewart said. "We scored the most goals of any Bulldog soccer team, to go along with our wins record. These young men took the game seriously and came to do the job everytime they stepped on the pitch. I could not ask for a better group of young men."

Anna-Jonesboro scored a pair of first half goals and tacked on three more in the second period.

Harrisburg avoided the shutout by a Brandon Henk goal late.

Ryan Cowsert took the loss, giving up five goals, while making nine saves.

Harrisburg had just seven shots on goal as Cody Morris put up a team-high three, while Anfernee Houston, James Curtis, Darious Spencer and Henk all had one.

"This was a tough regional pairing this year," Stewart added. "Normally we play other teams from the north and A-J goes to the west. This year, with Massac County hosting, we got paired up with A-J. We knew this was going to be match as we both had identical records, both teams had very strong attacking offense and both teams have several players who can shoot the ball."

On Saturday, the Wildcats were the strong team on offense, attack with several players, leaving Harrisburg vulnerable to a counter attack.

"We just couldn't transition quick enough to take advantage of any opportunities," Stewart added. "A-J did a great job at shutting our attack down the middle, which made out wings work a little harder since they were having to help on defense."