We had an impressive game against Galax on Thursday! We spent Wednesday taking pictures for the yearbook and doing some team bonding activities. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little nervous about not practicing before the game. We played an impressive 60 minutes of soccer; keeping the ball in their half of the field for most of the game. You could tell that our girls wanted to play together as a team and they wanted to win. They didn’t care about who was scoring or defending; they just wanted to win.  We did an amazing job in the first half keeping our spacing throughout the field. We held our own in the midfield offensively and defensively. Our offensive: Sherlyn, Vanessa, Danna, Arianna, Violet, Dezirae, and Essined did a great job keeping the ball wide to create space and had some amazing crosses that didn’t always result in a goal, but were important for their confidence. Our midfield also worked hard to intercept passes and redistribute the ball when necessary.  Our defense didn’t get much work, but when they did they were ready. Kaebry, Aaliyah, Aubrey, Eva, Sophira, Mariah, and Chloe (goalie) all had their moments to shine. Aubrey hasn’t played soccer until this year and you wouldn’t know unless you knew! She has stepped up in each position I have put her in with confidence and we are lucky to have her! Kaebry holds her own as well. I can confidently say that she shows leadership skills on the defensive line. She hasn’t played since she was in 6th grade, but she is shining bright! Aayliah and Eva also had some great plays on the ball to set our offense up for success. Goals:  #1- first half- Sherlynn: Galax goalie and defender sat the ball up on the six… not realizing the ball never went out of bounds. With lots of encouragement from the sidelines, she put it right in the net!  #2- first half- Essined: Aaliyah intercepted a pass and settled a great ball. Aaliyah sent it to a perfect spot in the middle of the field. Essined had some great foot work and got her first goal as an eighth grader!  #3- second half- Sherlynn: Violet had a beautiful pass to Dezirae in the midfield. Dezirae dribbles up and tries to get a pass off to Sherlynn.

     Galax had a great stop but ended up with a handball in the box.  #4- second half – Sherlynn: Arianna (8th grader & new to soccer) had a beautiful throw-in to Sherlynn. She fought off a defender with some beautiful footwork and drilled one into the net! #5- second half- Dezirae: Sherlynn takes it wide, and we have four girls in the box. Sherlynn sends a beautiful pass to the middle to Essined. Essined had a beautiful settle; which assisted Dezirae to put one in the back of the net!  #6- second half – Sherlynn: Essined had a great throw-in over the top of several Galax players. Sherlynn has a small touch error off of some Galax defenders.

   Danna (eighth grader) steps in with an amazing touch and settles from the outside, has a beautiful pass to Sherlynn, and she finishes in the back of the net!  I’m so thrilled for these girls! They’ve been working so hard, and they deserved this win! We’ve got several practice days next week with one game at Patrick.

Thank you, Coach !

Week 1 of Games Recap First game of the year ended in a win for the girls! The first half you could tell there was a lot of first game jitters.

    The girls had many opportunities on goal, but they were unable to put one in the back of the net. In the second half, it only took the girls a little over a minute to put the ball into the back of the net! It all started with a quick restart. We had a quick throw-in to Callie Harris that allowed her to be able to drive down the sideline and put a cross into the box. Alisia Torres Lopez made a front post run and finished Callie’s cross with a one-touch volley into the top of the net. Around 9 minutes later, we drew a foul at the top of the 18-yard box. Alisia Torres Lopez tapped the ball to Callie Harris at the top of the box, and Callie Harris scored it far post to make it 2-0. About 2 minutes later, Savannah Swecker and Callie Harris had a nice 1-2 combination to each other that beat the Galax defense and led to them fouling us in the box. Callie Harris put away the Pk to make it 3-0. The girls did a great job stepping up after halftime. On our defensive side, Jackie Arellano-Torres has really stepped up for us at the center back position! She has transitioned well for us there this year. Last year, she mainly played in the midfield for us, but due to graduating 3 defenders last year, we had to move her back into the defense.

    She has stepped right in and has become a leader for us on the back line! Alexis Sheffey also added another shutout to her career! Yesterday was a hard fought game in terrible weather conditions. We lost to Pulaski 0-1. We were unable to get our offense going. Pulaski’s goal was an unfortunate bounce for us in our box that went in. We will be ready for the rematch at the beginning of May.

Thank you, Coach !

The Lady Cavaliers return to the Pitch Wednesday night at Patrick County High School 🏫.