The Arts & Sciences soccer program started out a step behind due to a late start of games. Some teams had already played as many as five or six matches prior to the Lady Patriots’ first match.
They’ve quickly caught up.
CSAS didn’t play their first match of the season until Sept. 13. They lost four of their first five matches, but since then have gone 7-2, including a 1-0 victory over Hixson on Tuesday to set up a District 6-A/AA championship match against eighth-ranked East Hamilton (10-6-1) today at 4:30 at East Hamilton.
Coach David Poss laughed when talking about the first part of the season.
“I hadn’t been with the team for a full week yet, and we had just played two matches, losing to East Hamilton,” Poss said. “The girls mentioned that maybe we would be better if we practiced that following Sunday.
“I told them, ‘You don’t need practice; you need games.'”
Previous coach Ron Nance stepped down prior to the beginning of the season, but the team had been having practice since the beginning of school. Poss loved the team’s work ethic, but really wanted to get his players into some competition, so he inquired about any games and tournaments he could get his team into. They played anybody, anywhere. The Lady Patriots got into a tournament at McMinn County after receiving word that a late dropout opened up a spot. They played non-district matches against Soddy-Daisy and Goodpasture.
School obstacles also became a concern. Poss lost his junior class for a week for a school trip. That week they were beaten by Hixson, a loss they avenged Tuesday.
“We’re probably more tired than most teams because we crammed a lot of games into a short amount of time,” Poss said, “but we had to do what we had to do to have a season.”
• In other action today, second-ranked Chattanooga Christian (14-2-1) will host third-ranked Notre Dame (5-9-3) for the District 7-A/AA championship tonight at 7. Soddy-Daisy (14-2-2) will face Cleveland (10-7-3) in 5-AAA, and in 5-A/AA, 10th-ranked McMinn Central (10-6-2) will host Grace Academy (10-6-1).