On Friday, under first year head coach Whitney Wallis and returning assistant Haley Walker, Veterans’ girls shut out Rutland High 2-0 at home. It was the team’s first match in a span of two weeks, but it secured a final 7-0 record in Region 2-AAAA (after going 9-0 in 2-AAA in 2012) and avoided any possible tiebreakers with Rutland going into play with one region loss to Howard High, which also had just one defeat (to Veterans) with two matches to play.
“This is a special group of girls,” said Walker. “We lost some good people (last year), and we had some questions and some things to work out. Overall, in the last two months we have really picked it up and really come together.”
Though only scoring two times on Rutland, it was Veterans who had a majority of the possession time. Only on a pair of occasions did goalkeeper Erin Harbison make any moves towards the soccer ball. The game stayed from midfield to the Lady Warhawk attacking zone thanks to steady work from the back line to the forwards.
“We were a little nervous coming into this one,” said Wallis, referring to the fact that there was a two-week break since Veterans beat Perry at home on March 29. “(Rutland) didn’t have spring break (April 1-5).”
“We got the girls fired up and motivated,” said Walker. “Saying this is our turf and our senior night. We had to get things done to get that back-to-back region championship.”
All of the work Veterans does to maintain the soccer ball at midfield and pass it around eventually leads to one thing: get Khayla Owens in position to charge and score. If Owens is on the sidelines, Sarah Lucas – though not as big – is just as fast and aggressive in taking a shot on goal.
These were the two to get the goals Friday.
“If we can keep Khayla fired up, she’s definitely a dominant force,” said Walker. “We have a strong midfield that plays the ball in to the forwards. When she plays well, she’s on.”
Taking charge of all that goes on in support of the forwards is senior Aspen Coggins. The one Wallis said holds things together in the back line is Jada Foor, who always relishes the chance to show off her strong leg on a free kick.
It was eight minutes into play Friday that Rutland received its first look at an Owens charge. She can pass the ball off as well as shoot, though on this first try teammate Kaitlyn Kalch could not get a hold of Owens’ crossing feed.
The next attack from Owens, at 29:41, on the right got Veterans two corner kicks. Three minutes later Owens passed to Coggins at the top of the penalty box for a high shot. A throw-in at 25:11 went to Owens, who split two defenders only to hit the side of the net.
The midfield control, in addition to Coggins, came from a host of Lady Warhawks: Savannah Smith, Sierra Gomez, Taylor Craig, Ashley Stepanek and Marissa Bartholomew.
A throw-in at 19:23 went straight to Owens onside, and this time the keeper moved too far from the goal. Owens connected with the open target for the 1-0 Veterans lead.
Lucas entered the match late in the first half and immediately made two strong pushes down the right side. At 6:50, she entered the box and scored Veterans’ second goal.
It was after the Rutland kickoff that Harbison made her first significant play in goal.
For the second half, it was about Veterans cutting the field in half with a few more scoring chances here and there. Gomez passed to Owens on the run three minutes in, but even with Breanna Gomez providing a screen on the defense the shot missed wide.
Wyatt had a shot hit the top bar at the 26-minute mark, and Mahalia Laguines took a shot saved at 21:56. Rutland’s first corner kick was due to the defense of Erin Aler at 18:19, and S. Gomez defended a second corner to push the ball back to midfield.
“We have to keep our girls level headed,” said Walker about the challenges getting ready for the state playoffs in two weeks. “We have to keep confident, but not too cocky. We’re looking forward to Luella and Houston County. Those games will prepare us and keep us grounded. We have to keep it moving.”
WARHAWKS WIN 8-0
Veterans High boys soccer coach Matt Roth knew going into Friday’s last 2-AAAA match at home with Rutland that second place in the region standings was already a lock. He also saw the match as a chance to try some new things, which in some ways may have led to just two goals in the first half.
Goal No. 1 came fairly early, though, just three minutes in off the foot of senior David Gomez. Three minutes later, it looked like Gomez had No. 2 from a nice Hunter Hardin cross to David Vassey, but officials ruled an offsides.
Hardin and Heath Hosch keyed Veterans’ defensive efforts against a speedy Hurricane bunch, and Dillon Garrett was big in rushing back to get the ball from the fastest Rutland forward in the Warhawk box. Sean Joiner was also up to the challenge getting to plays in the corner and sending the ball the other way.
Jun Ukemori had some good lead-in passes for Roth, and he took a shot off a pass from Joiner saved at 17:03. For the next two minutes it was the Warhawk defense making plays with a big clear in the box from Garrett and a catch of a free kick from keeper Euris Manuel.
At 8:20, Michael Bailey, one of the few players to stay in after a 7-for-7 swap, sped down the right side and pass in to Cody Scarborough to score the second Veterans goal.
Bailey added a second assist early in the second half (33:54) when Gomez finally got his second goal.
Just a couple of minutes later, Mark Yeager took a 22-yard free kick that led to a corner try. That ball went to Garrett, and his header just cleared the bottom bar for 4-0.
Tim Yaclin and Yeager had shots saved over the next five minutes, and Elijah Milteer, after a lot of hard work in one corner, moved in the box to see his shot saved. Gomez was also the victim of a brilliant save at the 19-minute mark.
The next two goals went to Yeager, one on a penalty kick (22:30) and the other converting a lead pass from John Pilcher (18:23).
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