WCMS soccer battles Westwood to 1-1 tie

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Warren County Middle School’s Jesse Paz, right, and Catherine Stubblefield surround a Manchester Westwood player during Monday night’s game in Manchester. (Dale Stubblefield photo)

The Warren County Middle School soccer team traveled to Coffee County Monday night for a game against Manchester Westwood Middle School.

The two teams battled for 80 minutes in what proved to be an exciting game, but nothing was settled as the teams tied 1-1.

The Lady Pioneers dominated the first half with ball control and aggressive play on offense. WCMS took its first shot with seven minutes off the clock, but Macy Broom’s attempt sailed wide left.

Westwood had trouble moving the ball against Warren County’s defense and the ball crossed mid-field only once for Manchester. Gracie Harvey took Warren County’s next shot at goal, but Westwood’s goalie deflected the ball and turned it over to her offense. Westwood’s only shot at goal came with 10 minutes left in the first half, but Lady Pioneer goalie Linnsay Wiliamson kept the game scoreless as the two teams went into halftime.

The Lady Pioneers came out in the opening minutes of the second half fired up and ready to go. Warren County went to work on offense as Broom, Harvey, Jac Smartt and Catherine Stubblefield moved the ball down field. With two minutes off the clock Harvey found an open field and fired her shot from 15 yards out to give the Lady Pioneers a 1-0 lead.

Westwood tried to gain ground on offense but the Lady Pioneers still controlled the game at mid-field. With 10 minutes left to play, a miscue by the Warren County defense provided an opportunity for Westwood to take advantage of a two-on-one break, and scored to tie the game at 1-1.

Both teams battled for field position over the next eight minutes. Manchester had a chance to take the lead after a Lady Pioneer defender was called for a hand ball in the box. Westwood put their best kicker in place to take the shot, but it went over the net to keep the game tied.

The Lady Pioneers worked the ball down field with time running out and fired two quick shots, but the ball never found the back of the net as the horn sounded to in the game.

Warren County had 10 shots at goal, while Westwood had only four attempts.

“This was a very disappointing loss,” said coach Autumn Turner. ” We have been playing so much better over the last two or three games and today we just didn’t play as a team. We had several mistakes throwing the ball in and a couple of breakdowns on defense.

“We lost to Harris last game but we did a good job of spreading the field and passing the ball as a team. Today we weren’t focused and it cost us a win.”