FORT WORTH — For a second there, the Ryan Lady Raiders thought they’d tied it.

Down 1-0, freshman Taylor Maxson took a cross from Mary Strange, who charged up the left side to make the play. Maxson’s deflection of the pass was seemingly gobbled up by Aledo’s keeper, but Maxson took a second swing at the ball, which rolled into the goal.

Jordan McCarty

The crowd and bench celebrated, but the goal was eventually waved off by an official.

“They said our player [Maxson] kicked it out of her hands,” said Ryan head coach Raiford Malone. “It didn’t look that way to me. There’s nothing you can do about it. I pled my case. He basically told me the keeper had it. It’s disappointing. I didn’t see it that way.”

The no-goal with 15 minutes to play was one of a few calls that didn’t go the Lady Raiders’ way and eventually led to a 1-0 loss to Aledo and the end of Ryan’s season in the Class 4A Region I area round on Tuesday.

“I thought we were going to get a couple more calls,” said Ryan senior Jordan McCarty. “We had a lot of opportunities. Sometimes you realize that’s just not how it’s supposed to go.”

Minutes before Aledo scored, McCarty almost drew first blood with a breakaway 30 yards in front of the goal in the 47th minute. She was taken down before she could get the shot off. A penalty kick was looming, but no call was made.

“We left everything we had out there,” Malone said. “I can’t look back and say we didn’t put our best game out there because we played with our hearts, we played with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of energy.”

Aledo tallied the game’s only goal shortly before Ryan’s (11-7-7) chance. In the 62nd minute, a ball in Ryan’s defensive zone bounced right to a wide-open Ashley Huhn. The senior deposited the ball in the upper-left side of the goal from 25 yards out.

Ryan was outshot by Aledo 8-7 with most of its chances coming in the first half when a blustering wind was at Ryan’s back.

Conversely, Aledo got seven of its eight shots in the second half when the wind was at its back.

The Lady Raiders dominated the first half as a result but couldn’t convert any of their chances. Ryan’s best chance came in the 12th minute when Emily Ashby got a shot off that rebounded to Lauren Denison. Denison was able to get a header off, but it went over the crossbar.

“That was probably our best look,” Malone said. “I was hoping we’d get some more shots [in the first half]. We felt like that wind was going to be more of an advantage to us. We were sitting back and thought we’d let the wind do the work for us. I don’t think we came out quite as aggressive as we should have. … We wasted that first half away.”

Ryan’s fortunes changed after the half. Aledo came out stronger after registering just one shot in the first half. The Ladycats began to control play with the wind behind them, and Ryan eventually coughed up a goal.

The loss ends a resurgent season for the Lady Raiders. They made it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2003 by storming ahead in the 5-4A playoff race in the second half of district play.

“It’s monumental to our program,” McCarty said of Ryan’s 2008 season. “We have a lot of talent coming in. Soccer is booming at our school. It’s just the beginning of a really good program.”

JEFF ANDREWS can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is jandrews@dentonrc.com .