Lady Cougars Blast Colonels

Lady Cougars Blast Colonels
By David Gravely

When your junior varsity squad starts the night off with their first win in over two years, you have to hope that your varsity team can follow that act up with a strong performance as well. That was just what happened on Thursday in Roanoke, as the Pulaski County Lady Cougar soccer team go their second win of the season over William Fleming by a final score of 7-0.

"We were really pleased with the effort we saw out of both squads tonight" said Head Coach Eric Martin. "The girls seemed to be moving the ball better, they're communicating better, and we were more aggressive and athletic tonight. We just need to keep learning and getting better every day."

The younger Lady Cougar squad started the night off in fine fashion, winning 7-1 in a contest that found Pulaski controlling the tempo and the ball most of the game. Dublin Middle School eighth grader Moriah Hinton led the attack with three goals, including the first and last goals of the game. Erin McPeak and Kaitlin Edwards added two each to the effort. One negative note from the contest was when halfway through the first half defender Madison Surber had to be taken out of the game with an injury sustained while battling for the ball. It was later confirmed that Surber had broken her arm.

With the JV contest in the books, the varsity team had high hopes for their matchup. Five minutes into the first half, Ericka Nash broke free down the left side of the field, cleared the defenders, and sent a rocket to the back of the net to give Pulaski the 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Casey Snider found herself with the ball and open in front of the net, and she made good on her first varsity score ever. Caitlin Lovell didn't want to be left out, and six minutes later she was able to poke the ball past the William Fleming goalkeeper to give Pulaski a 3-0 lead. With just over 8 minutes remaining in the first half, Kourtney Stuart broke free and beat the defense with a hard shot of her own, giving the lady Cougars a 4-0 lead that they would take into the half.

The second half saw much of the same, as the Lady Cougars continued to pressure the ball up the field and force shots on the Fleming goal. Lauren McPeak, Ciara Sarver, and Nash would each add goals in the final half to give Pulaski the 7-0 win. Nash would finish with two goals and one assist, McPeak and Lovell finished with one goal and one assist each. Kelly Russell added two assists, while in goal Alisha Romain had three saves before being relieved by Tori Duncan, who recorded three saves.

"Chelsie Testerman played fantastic in the back along, with Briana Blankenship and Kristina Simpkins" said Coach Martin. "We're very pleased. We set out to win and we did. We possessed the ball well, we played in their half of the field, and we were able to put pressure on the ball the instant Fleming touched it. This was a total team performance tonight. Now we need to get back to work and get ready for our next game. As a program we are still behind the power curve when compared to some others, but we're making progress. We've set our goals, and we're going to work hard to reach them."

The Lady Cougars hit the road Monday to face Radford, and then travel to Galax on Wednesday. Junior varsity action for each game starts at 5:30, with varsity games set to start at 7 pm.