RALEIGH - Cary’s girls soccer team closed out the first half Wednesday evening with two goals in a matter of three minutes. The Imps couldn’t find the net again, but they were able to outlast a surging Athens Drive team in the second half for a 2-1 victory.

“We held on to win,” Cary coach Laura Kerrigan said. “Athens Drive was really bringing in the second half. We had our chances in the first half to score more than two goals, but we didn’t take advantage. If we had taken advantage of those opportunities in the first half we wouldn’t have been the situation we were in the second half.”

The Imps set the tempo early, challenging the Jaguars’ defense and controlling possession. Bria Dixon was the first to break through.

The sophomore continued to attack the net even when it looked as if Athens goalkeeper Lily John would control the ball at the top of the box. Dixon’s aggressiveness was rewarded with a rebound of a kneeling John and nothing but an open net in front of her.

Dixon delivered to give Cary a 1-0 lead with 5:42 left in the first half. With 2:44 left in the opening half, Anna Witte made it 2-0 Imps when she found the back of the net.

“In the first half we played very well,” Kerrigan said. “We had a lot of chances to score. We had a breakaway we just missed on and a couple of others we couldn’t get into the net. I’m glad we were able to take advantage of at least two of those chances.”

After a sluggish first half, Jags coach Scott St. Clair made a few adjustments at halftime to try and generate some offense. He moved some players around to get some more speed out front.

It paid off.

Athens (5-5, 5-5 Tri-Nine) became the aggressors early in the second 40 minutes, and put constant pressure on the Imps’ defense. With 25 minutes left in the game, Emily Newsom slipped the ball across the front of the goal to an open Mia Eriksson, who promptly deposited the ball in the left corner of the net to pull the Jags to within one.

After the goal, Athens continued to push the ball into the Cary (6-7-2, 5-7-1) defense. The Jags generated shot after shot, but the ball either sailed wide, hit a post or found its way into the arms of Imps’ keeper Annie McHenry.

“It was one of those games,” St. Clair said. “Hats off to (McHenry), she was great. We had our shots; we just couldn’t score. It seemed to be a half a foot off every time.”

Kerrigan was relieved to get the win, but was critical of her teams’ offense in the second half. She credited her defense – specifically defender Ellie Wu and McHenry – for preserving the very important Tri-Nine Conference win.

“In the second half we got a little nervous,” McHenry said. “We were up 2-0 at halftime, and we knew we really needed to win this game for the playoffs. They came at us hard. We’ve got some people playing in new positions and we’re just now settling into those new spots, but we were able to stop them when we had to.”