Tigers make defending champions work

By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — No one likes to lose, but there are times when it’s tolerable. Saturday was one of those days for Dale Lee.

Even though Parkersburg defeated the Princeton girls soccer team 3-1, that was a marked improvement over last season, when the defending state champions crushed the Tigers 11-1.

“You would never think there is such things as a good loss, but I’m very proud of the way the girls played,” said Lee, Princeton’s second-year head coach. “Our conditioning showed, our determination showed, our resiliency showed, these girls just gave it everything they had.

“To play a team that’s 11-1 like Parkersburg, the defending state champions and to really take it to them like we did, I am very proud of these girls.”

Parkersburg (11-1), whose lone loss was a 2-1 decision to George Washington, had to rally from a 1-0 deficit with goals by Taylor Bryant, Tori Wilson and Chelsey Maiden. It was only the second time this season that the Big Reds had trailed.

“They played a great game, they really played well,” Parkersburg coach Mike Lockney said. “They’ve got talent pretty much all over the field, they’ve got some speed. Their forwards took advantage of what we gave them, we gave them two or three shots, and they scored one of them.

“I thought Princeton played a good game. It took everything we had to come out of here with a win.”

Princeton took the lead nine minutes into the game when Lauren Broyles used her left foot to kick the ball over the head of goalkeeper Kelsey Graham and into the right side of the net. It was just the sixth goal the Big Reds had allowed all season.

“Lauren just did a tremendous job with that goal,” Lee said. “Left-footed, a nice kick, she played an outstanding game, but again, all 15 of them played an outstanding game, you can’t really single anybody out.”

Nine minutes later, Parkersburg got the ball off a free kick and wasted no time, quickly getting the ball in play, with Brooke Logston dishing the ball to Bryant, who kicked the ball past Amanda Trail for the 1-1 tie.

Princeton rarely had another chance to score, while Parkersburg had plenty. Wilson, just a freshman, scored with 12 minutes left in the first half, and Maiden added the final goal 12 minutes into the second half.

Still, Trail was outstanding in goal, much as she’s been all season. She was complimented by a solid defensive effort, including by Amber Niday and Jessie Lee, both of whom left with injuries, but returned to the field.

“We were a little concerned early because they were attacking the goal,” Lee said. “When she was down, they were attacking her, but she just has played tremendous all season long.

“Now in 13 games, we’ve given up 20 goals and that shows you what kind of defense and what kind of keeper we have back there.”

Defensively, the Tigers were pressured throughout by Parkersburg’s skill players, many of whom won the state title in 2006, and lost in the finals in ‘05.

“It absolutely does show how far these girls have come,” Lee said. “They have all the heart in the world, and if we can continue to improve on this and play like this then there is no telling how far these girls can go.”

Lee is hoping for the same effort when the Tigers host sectional rival Greenbrier East on Tuesday, followed two days later by a visit from Bluefield.

“The big key is we can’t have a letdown this coming week,” Lee said. “We have to play exactly the way we played today. We have to play with that same heart and enthusiasm and good things will happen.”

Lockney learned that last season. He knows repeating won’t be any easier.

“Everybody that we see is getting better so it was a horse race to win it last year,” Lockney said. “We had to really work hard and get a little bit of luck to get there last year.

“I I think this year is not going to be much different, there are lot of teams that could win it.”

Princeton dropped to 6-7 on the campaign, but Lee feels like the Tigers proved a point in this loss.

“We talked about that the whole time, the one thing that these girls stress to themselves is last year’s team was a completely different team and we’re better this year than we were last year and they wanted to prove that,” Lee said. “They know it themselves, but they wanted to prove it to Parkersburg and to everyone else.”

Mission accomplished.

Published: September 15, 2007