Soccer routed by Riverdale
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Riverdale defeated the Lady Pioneers 8-0, with Lady Warrior Becca Smith scored seven of her team’s eight goals.
The young and inexperienced Lady Pioneers had their hands full from the opening whistle. Riverdale didn’t waste any time putting its offense to work as Smith scored her first goal just two minutes into the contest.
The much bigger and faster Riverdale squad took shot after shot in the first half as Warren County keeper Erin Wolford came up with three saves before Riverdale added its second goal off of the foot of Smith with 26:02 left in the half.
Warren County had few opportunities on offense, but Alex Mullican made a run at the Riverdale net at the 24:31 mark. Mullican had her defender beat, but there was no one following the shot as Warren County went back on defense.
Over the next 20 minutes Riverdale attempted four more shots before Smith hit for the hat trick with 16:42 remaining in the half for a 3-0 Riverdale lead. Smith wasn’t through, however, as she added two goals late in the period.
With less than a minute left in the first half, Angela Petty scored off of a direct kick to give the Lady Warriors a 6-0 lead at the break.
Riverdale started the second half just like the first, with Smith scoring nine minutes in. The Lady Warriors continued to play their starters in the second half, in a move Lady Pioneer coach Keith Hamilton said showed disrespect to his squad.
Warren County came up with just one attempt in the half before Hamilton sent his junior varsity team into the game with 20 minutes remaining.
But Riverdale coach Ali Arman elected to leave his starters on the field, including Smith, who already had six goals in the game.
“I went over and told coach Arman I was pulling my starters, but he said he wanted to leave his in,” Hamilton said. “It’s always been kind of an unwritten rule in soccer that you sub a kid out after a hat trick, and you put in your young kids once a game’s out of hand. But he decided to leave them all in, and I was pretty disappointed by that.”
Warren County played the best they could against Riverdale’s varsity, but the Lady Warriors’ coaching staff continued to allow its team pile up goals. With 15 minutes remaining Smith scored her seventh goal, giving Riverdale its 8-0 lead.
Warren County’s Catherine Hill took a penalty kick after a shove in the back from Riverdale with 1:45 left in the game, but the attempt failed as Riverdale held on for the shutout.
The Lady Pioneers are 0-3-1 in district action, and were scheduled to face Franklin County on the road Thursday night.