Pioneers blanked by ‘Cats
The Clarksville Wildcats soccer team visited McMinnville Friday, bringing with them a No. 3 ranking in the state, and proved why they are ranked so high as they defeated the Pioneers 5-0.
“This is a very good team,” WCHS coach Charlie Hardee said of the Wildcats. “They finished second in the state last year and deserve their spot in the rankings this year. We played a very good first half, we ran with them and matched up man for man very well.
“We hustled and played very hard in the first half. The second half, I was a little disappointed in our effort. I don’t think we came out with the same intensity we had in the first half.”
Warren County used its speed, along with solid defense, to keep the first half under control. The Wildcats first opportunity to score came at the 27:30 mark as their mid-striker fired a hard shot at goal. But Pioneer goalie Jonathan Bratcher answered the call, rejecting Clarksville’s attempt to keep the game scoreless.
Three minutes later the Wildcats scored on an indirect kick to go up 1-0. The Pioneers pushed the ball on offense, trying to even up the score, but Brandon Hitchcock’s kick sailed wide. Clarksville drove back down towards the Pioneer goal and with 11:49 left in the first half added their second goal and took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
The Pioneers seemed to struggle with their passing at times in the second half but still managed to keep Clarksville on the defensive for the first 10 minutes of the half. Clarksville added to its lead with 12 minutes off the clock, going up 3-0.
Warren County worked hard on offense over the next 15 minutes, but after several shots at goal the Pioneers still had nothing to show for their efforts. The Wildcats added two more scores, one with 14 minutes left in the game and another at the 3:28 mark as they shut out the Pioneers in their home opener. Warren County took six shots on goal while Bratcher had nine saves on the night.
“Tonight we just had crucial mistakes at crucial times,” Hardee said. “It wasn’t from a lack of effort because the kids played hard tonight. At times when we couldn’t afford it we made a few mistakes and against a team like Clarksville you just can’t to that. That doesn’t mean we played bad the whole game because we didn’t. It just means we have to see and understand the mistakes we made and correct it.
“We should never have to play defense one-on-one, you should always have support behind you and that wasn’t happening tonight. We did things we knew we shouldn’t do and after we realized it, it was too late. The kids are learning a lot from playing these top-rated teams and it can only help us. I see great improvement in our team every day and that’s what we’re looking for.”