Matt Vines

HOUMA – The best season in North DeSoto girls soccer history came to an end Tuesday.

The No. 6 seed Lady Griffins couldn’t find the late-game magic for a second straight contest as they lost 2-1 to No. 3 seed Terrebonne in the quarterfinals of the Division II Non-Select playoffs.

Ellie Wagner tied the match 1-1 with about 17 minutes left, her second goal in as many matches.

But Terrebonne found the back of the net for the go-ahead goal with nine minutes left to advance to the semifinals.

“The game today was up and down the field the entire time,” said North DeSoto coach Morgan Ersoff. “Our defense played strong, and our offense had some great opportunities.”

North DeSoto (17-8-4) set a program record with 17 wins and matched their best playoff performance (2018 quarterfinals).

The No. 6 seed is the highest-ever in program history, and the one-goal quarters loss is much closer than the 2018 quarterfinals appearance (8-0 loss to No. 1 Vandebilt Catholic).

North DeSoto is losing just two seniors from this year’s squad, meaning the Lady Griffins should again be in position to be one of the top teams in Division II.

“We will continue our progress from this moment,” Ersoff said. “Next year, we will come out hungry and ready to go.

“We have some great middle schoolers coming up as well. We strive to take today and turn it into fire for next season.”

North DeSoto advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to some late-match heroics against No. 11 David Thibodaux.

The Lady Griffins scored two goals in the last two minutes to escape with a 2-1 win Friday at home.

Ella Cosby and Wagner scored the goals. Cosby converted a Chloe Phillips corner kick to score the first goal before playing a through ball to Wagner, who netted the go-ahead goal.

The first goal of the match came with just 10 minutes remaining as NDHS goalkeeper Katie Gibson and her Thibodaux counterpart rebuffed all attacks.