NATCHEZ — Emily Ables’ goal with 3-and-a-half minutes left was like a dagger in the hearts of the Adams County Christian School girls soccer team.

The Veritas School striker’s shot broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Lady Lions the edge. From there, Veritas held off several attempts by the Lady Rebels to re-tie the game, including a last-minute corner kick.

But when the whistle blew as time expired, ACCS head coach Jimmy Allgood could only give his team credit for making the game close.

“For us to start off the match down 2-0, our ladies were able to fight back to tie it at halftime and tie it again (later in the game),” Allgood said.

“That team beat us by double digits last year, and we scored zero goals against them in that game. We’re making leaps and bounds of progress.”

The two teams played four 20-minute quarters, and after ACCS fell behind 2-0 in the first, a goal by Jordan Parker cut the Veritas lead 2-1 at the end of one.

The Lady Rebels tied the game in the second quarter when ACCS’s Sage Atkins was able to navigate around a Veritas defender and set up her own shot. The game was tied 2-2 at intermission.

In the third quarter, the Lady Rebels’ Kaitlin Pace set up a nice assist for Merritt Murray, who gave ACCS a 3-2 lead with her first of two goals.

The Lady Lions scored the next two goals, however, regaining the lead at the end of the third. Ables and Maryanna Story had both of the Lady Lions’ shots in the third quarter, making it 4-3 Veritas.

“A slight miscue led to them tying it up,” Allgood said.

A goal by Murray early in the fourth quarter made it 4-4. Murray got the ball on a breakaway and gently pushed it into the goal when the Veritas keeper over-pursued the ball on the play.

The Lady Rebels were unable to contain Ables in crunch time, however, causing them to fall short.

Allgood said many of his players simply ran out of gas in the last quarter of play, which kept them from being as aggressive as he would have liked.

“With the talent and skills they have, we have to take our best 14 and try to match their top 14 for as many minutes as we can,” Allgood said.

“I think we played a total of 18 girls. A minimum of half of our girls didn’t step off the field during the game.”

Watching his players set up several goals for each other was a nice change from last season, Allgood said.

“A year ago, all the shots were set up on us,” he said. “Now, thanks to all the drills, we’re finally coming along.”

The Lady Rebels are now 3-2-1 on the season.