Gallery by Heather Belcher
Tuesday night at Paul Cline Stadium, a tie was not the desired outcome in the girls soccer showdown between sectional rivals Greenbrier East and Woodrow Wilson.
However, when the horn sounded on a scoreless match, one coach was clearly happier than the other.
“That was disappointing, ” Woodrow Wilson head coach Julie Agnor said. “Especially after we possessed the ball the majority of the game. Our biggest struggle was we tried to play up the middle too long and that is what hurt us. They clog the middle and we needed to use more wide and go around them. That is something theses girls need to start doing and get around the outside a bit.”
Even though it was his girls second straight 0-0 decision, Greenbrier East (3-0-2) head coach Mike Dotson had a different feeling after the match.
“We told them after the match that we never really want a tie, but tonight it was a good result. A loss would have been a lot worse,” Dotson said.
The Spartans are no strangers to clean sheets having not allowed a single goal this season through five matches. The struggle for East has been on the offensive end where it has just one goal in the last three matches.
“We are still kind of new with our players up front, so we are still working on offense,” Dotson said. “We have really focused on defense so far this year and our defensive shifts. That has looked pretty good. I know they got some shots, but most of the shots were contested.”
Senior keeper Lara Ratliff faced nine shots on frame and had a couple of close calls, but denied the Flying Eagles each time.
“Lara is a great athlete. She has been playing there now for a couple of years and she is getting more and more comfortable,” Dotson said. “Bailey Nicely has also been playing unbelievable this year and she has a lot to do with that as well. We just need to work on some offense, but I think some of that is just playing shape. We aren’t in shape enough right now, so they are sending it through and hoping for a prayer.”
For the Woodrow coach, not seeing the ball find the back of the net has become a way to frequent sight.
“We just couldn’t finish the looks we had and that kind of plagues us some,” Agnor lamented.
The limited times that East was able to mount an attack, Woodrow keeper Ally Arthur was true on those chances.
“Ally looked great tonight.” Agnor said. “It is good for her to get a few looks so she is still on top of things. She stayed very aware tonight.”
After dominating the section for several years, East had a Covid shutdown two years ago just as the postseason began. Last year the Spartans lost a heartbreaker to Oak Hill on penalty kicks in the sectional opener.
Now Greenbrier East is looking to get back what they feel belongs to them.
“We want to peak at the right time. Every time we seemed to get going last year, something bad would happen,” Dotson said. “This year we seem to have really good chemistry and hopefully we keep it going.”
Woodrow Wilson will have another key sectional clash in two days when it travels to Oak Hill. After feeling like they let one slip away Tuesday, the Flying Eagles cannot let the loss carry over to Thursday.
Agnor also knows it will not be a walk in the park for her team when it heads to Fayette County.
“It is a smaller and more narrow field and we are used to playing on a bigger field,” Agnor said. “Tomorrow we will sit down and really focus on that. I will probably narrow our field and make them play in a smaller zone.”