Gallery by Heather Belcher
Sectional girls championship battles between Shady Spring and Bluefield have been the norm the last few seasons.
Saturday the two will meet again to decide the Class AA Region 3, Section 1 crown at Shady Spring High School.
The No. 1 seeded Tigers did their part to set up that battle with a convincing 5-1 win over No. 4 PikeView Wednesday night.
“The last four or five years it has been us and them in the championship,” Shady Spring head coach Joey Beckett said. “It will either go to PK’s, down to the wire or overtime. I expect another really good game and it won’t be easy.”
Meeting for the first time this season, neither Shady or PikeView knew exactly what to expect from the other.
One thing the Tigers did know was they had a player that could flip the field in junior Mallie Lawson who stunned the Panthers in the 10th minute of the match on a free kick deep in the Shady Spring end of the field.
Lawson’s blast over the PikeView back row found senior Izzy Workman who outran the Panthers’ defenders to the ball. Workman then beat PikeView keeper, Christina Hale for a quick 1-0 lead.
“She has got a leg. She can really send it and she did a good job tonight,” Beckett said. “We don’t really like to play boom ball, but I told them if the defense is up, let’s go.”
Shady Spring was the clear aggressors in the first 40 minutes pelting PikeView keeper, Christina Hale, with ten shots in the opening half, some at point blank range.
The Tigers finally broke through for their second goal of the half when Lawson’s corner was knocked in by freshman Ally Betkijian.
Although his team led 2-0 at the break, Beckett was not exactly happy with the first half performance of his team.
“I got on them after the first half. I didn’t like the way they played. We just weren’t working the ball and passing,” Beckett said. “I told them to quit putting on a dribbling clinic and pass the ball. I wanted one or two touches then it comes of their feet.”
The halftime discussion definitely hit home as the Tigers doubled their lead in the first seven minutes of the second half.
Workman and Lawson connected on a set piece before senior Kellie Adkins fired a shot just out of the reach of Hale for a 4-0 lead.
“Second half they came out and it was boom, boom, boom. Then I started pulling the girls to rest them and keep them safe for Bluefield,” Beckett said.
Kayla May Randolph added the final score for Shady Spring, while Lakyn Hatfield found the back of the net for the Panthers.
Bluefield punched it ticket to the sectional championship match with a 4-1 win over Mingo Central.
“Hopefully, we can play our kind of ball Saturday. We beat them 3-0 the first time, but the last game we tied them 0-0,” Beckett said. “They have a good team, and they are getting better. It’s not the same team that we played the first of the year.”
Saturday’s championship match will start at 3 p.m.
