Mar 22, 2011 – Tuesday Brodi Thompson (left) and Ashtah Das fight for the soccer ball during the Heritage High School girls’ soccer game against Alatoona High School in Ringgold, Ga.
Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free PressRINGGOLD, Ga. – Having just been knocked from the ranks of the girls’ soccer unbeatens, Heritage coach Stacy Pickens found the proverbial silver lining.
Allatoona improved to 10-0 and 7-0 in Region 7-AAA with a decisive 6-1 win over the Lady Generals (10-1, 7-1) on Tuesday, effectively clinching the region championship. Though the loss hurt, Pickens hopes it might pay dividends in the long run.
“I think we needed this loss, though that’s sad to say,” she said. “I’ve been telling them they’re going to slip up and let somebody beat them, and tonight it happened. Hopefully, they learned that tonight. We’ve got 14 freshmen and sophomores among 18 players, so the hardest thing for me is to make them play consistently as good as they can.”
The Lady Buccaneers wasted little time taking control, getting a goal 7:30 into the match from Kelly Fairbanks off a nice cross pass from Suzanne Arafa. Five minutes later, speedy forward Kristy Wise scored the first of her three goals.
The quick start was the result of excellent playmaking at midfield from Allie Belvis, Willough Davis and Ashley Manning and the speed of forwards Wise and Ashta Das.
“The early goals were fantastic,” Allatoona coach Ben Perry said. “We talked about getting out on top of them early and how important that might be. I also thought in the middle part of the first half when we were possessing the ball, we were able to move the ball around and find some openings so that we could get some easy goals instead of having to shoot from far out.”
Das added a goal with 9:20 left in the first half, but Heritage came to life just before the half when Blair Harden punched in a loose ball past Sarah Craig. The Lady Generals were down just two despite being outshot 9-4 and out-possessed nearly 2-to-1.
That momentum didn’t carry over, however, and when Heritage had to press forward, gaps were left in the defense. Wise took advantage with goals at the 52:20 and 62:03 marks to put any comeback attempt to bed.
“They just outplayed us,” Pickens said of the Lady Bucs, who made the Class AAAA playoffs in just their second year of existence last year. “They communicated well and got in open spots. They moved the ball well and did all the right things. I don’t know what happened to us. We normally do all the right things, but tonight we let them do all those things.”