Marbury girls soccer outlasts Brew Tech in penalty-kick playoff win

Marbury turned postseason anxiety into a breakthrough, beating Brewbaker Tech in a penalty-kick shootout after the teams finished tied 1-1 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. The result carried extra weight for the Bulldogs, who had seen their season end on penalties in each of the previous two years, and this time they answered the same pressure with a place in the second round.

The matchup featured two of the top teams in Class 5A, with Marbury ranked No. 6 and Brewbaker Tech No. 7 in the final poll. Brew Tech entered at 16-2-5, and one of its five ties had come against Marbury in a scoreless draw in early March. That made the rematch feel less like an upset and more like a test of who could handle the moment when the bracket tightened. Marbury’s only regulation goal came from Amylia Rigdon, and the Bulldogs had to keep their nerve after Brewbaker Tech matched it before the game went to penalties.

Ariel Mangum gave Marbury the edge it needed. She made five saves in regulation and then added a save in the shootout, helping the Bulldogs hold firm as Belle Boyer, Mary Wallace Auburtin, Kendall Holmes and Hailey Kopp all converted their penalty kicks. Kopp scored the winning penalty, finishing a night that once again demanded composure, defense and late-game execution from a Marbury team that had already built a season around those traits.

Head coach Brent Sowell said the group had been carrying the motto “one more round” all season, and the payoff was obvious in the way Marbury handled the decisive moments. After last year’s playoff loss in a penalty-kick shootout, Sowell said he ended practices with penalty-kick work, a detail that proved meaningful when the Bulldogs were forced back into the same high-stress setting. “This will be one of the games that I will always remember and use as an example of how a team can overcome adversity to achieve its goals,” Sowell said.

The win also reflected how much Marbury had already accomplished before the postseason pressure arrived. The Bulldogs had won the Class 5A Area 5 championship for the second straight season, beating Demopolis and Booker T. Washington Magnet by a combined 21-0. They had also gone unbeaten at home all season, won their division at the Lakeshore Shootout and earned the program’s first victory over Class 7A Foley. Marbury advanced to face No. 3 Indian Springs, a three-time state champion that last won it all in 2022, with another round of playoff pressure waiting.