Lady Pioneers top St. Andrews to go over .500

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Warren County’s Shea Martin prepares to fire a shot for one of her two goals in the first half of Thursday night’s soccer game against St. Andrews. Martin and the Lady Pioneers return to district action Tuesday with a road game against Cookeville.

It wasn’t exactly the tune-up game the Lady Pioneers were hoping to play as they prepare for a district showdown with Cookeville on Tuesday, but it was a win.

The Lady Pioneers defeated St. Andrews Thursday night at home, winning 3-0 to improve to 4-3 overall. They stand at 2-0 in district play.

Shea Martin put her Lady Pioneers on the board early in the first half by working her way past a Lady Lion defender and taking the open shot with 32 minutes left in the half.

Warren County’s offense was a little sluggish in the first half as the Lady Pioneers failed to take advantage of several scoring opportunities.

Defensively, the Lady Pioneers played well enough to keep St. Andrews off the scoreboard. Solid play by Sarah Tanner, Beth Damon and Hillary Templeton kept the ball in the hands of Warren County’s offense.

With 16:12 left in the period, Martin once again found an open field in front of her and scored her second goal of the night giving Warren County a 2-0 lead going into the half.

St. Andrews open the second half more aggressively on offense, but Warren County remained in control of the game using its defense to keep the Lady Lions at bay.

Midway through the second half Warren County went up 3-0 when Alex Smartt picked up a loose ball and fired a shot to the back of the net.

Warren County remained in control of the game as St. Andrews had just two attempts the rest of the way to Warren County’s third win in a row.

“This was a frustrating game,” said coach Keith Hamilton. “The good thing is we got the win, the bad thing is we didn’t play this game aggressively enough. We were looking to use this game as a building block for Cookeville, but we didn’t.

“We played sloppy at times, and our scores came from St. Andrews mistakes. We have to create our own scoring opportunities and we didn’t do that tonight. The girls are going to have to play more aggressive and play a lot smarter against Cookeville.”

Despite his overall disappointment, Hamilton said Thursday’s game had several bright spots.

“Our play in the last five minutes of the first half was good, and Shea Hyatt played solid the whole game,” he said. “We have to get everybody to give 100 percent for the whole game if we’re going to beat a team like Cookeville.”