Gallery by Heather Belcher
Veteran Shady Spring girls soccer head coach Joey Beckett knew it would take his team a little time to find itself this season
Monday night Beckett witnessed exactly what he has been waiting to see.
Controlling the game with crisp passing, solid defense and relentless attacks up top, the Tigers ran past Midland Trail, 4-1 on Carter Family Foundation Field.
“We can play that way and they just put it all together tonight,” Beckett said. “I thought we controlled the ball and I love it when they do that. If we can play that way the rest of the time, we will be alright. They were firing all all cylinders. The passing was good and they had their heads up watching. All of the things we have talked about, they were doing. This was our best game so far.”
Heading into the season, Shady Spring was tasked with replacing 14 players from last year’s team. Filling those spots were a bevy of underclassmen and a few first time players.
Monday night, they looked like seasoned veterans.
Less than three minutes in, senior Mallie Lawson launched a corner kick that had the Trail defenders scrambling, only to see Katie Garrett slip it past keeper Mary McGraw for a 1-0 lead.
“Mallie takes all of the free kicks and corners,” Beckett said. “She shoots a deep ball and as long as we are crashing we are alright. We were crashing pretty good tonight.”
The Tigers kept the Patriots on their heels the rest of the first half and Trail could never get its speedsters loose to threaten in the offensive end.
With just over three minutes to play in the half, Lawson launched another solid corner kick towards Garrett who knocked it in for the eventual game-winner.
“We really didn’t get off the bus in the first half for sure,” Midland Trail head coach Wayne Workman said. “We were a little lackadaisical out there. The second half we came back with a little bit of a spark and a little more up-tempo which is what we usually play. It hurt us. We got down and couldn’t catch up. Hats off to Shady, they looked good. They played a tough game.”
Midway through the second half, Midland Trail finally seized some momentum on a foul by the Tigers that brought out a yellow card.
Brylee Stephenson’s blast from 30 yards out slipped just under the cross-bar and cut the lead in half. However, that would be the last positive burst for the Patriots.
The back row of returning sophomore Reece Keffer, along with newcomers Kylie Barnes, Kaylee Waddell and Kendall Lilly rarely allowed Trail any effective scoring opportunities for the next 20 minutes.
“I guess some of it is the three that have never played in the back are growing up and learning. They are all lightning in a bottle back there,” Beckett said. “The girls did really good. We have worked and worked on defense and it is coming together.”
Shady Spring restored its two goal lead when Lawson sent a rocket towards the net that was stopped, but was then knocked in off the rebound by Delilah Taylor with seven minutes to play.
Aubrey Henderson rounded out the scoring off an assist from Ella Gray
“We couldn’t get put our through balls down and take advantage of our speed,” Workman said. “We were trying to dribble the ball up the field and that wasn’t working. Speed is great, but if you can’t utilize it, it doesn’t help much.”
Shady Spring travels to Nicholas County Tuesday before hosting Bluefield Thursday. Midland Trail travels to Braxton County Tuesday and hosts Oak Hill Thursday.