Lady Pioneers hold ‘play-day’

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Warren County’s Alex Mullican goes up against Ryle Chastain, who played the role of goalkeeper at Monday’s soccer practice. (Dale Stubblefield photo)

The Warren County High School Lady Pioneer soccer team’s play-day on Saturday was somewhat of a disappointment, but was also considered a positive by head coach Keith Hamilton.

The varsity played two games, taking on Knoxville West in the first game. The game ended in a 0-0 tie after 40 minutes of play and overall was a good outing considering Knoxville downed the Lady Pioneers 4-0 last year.

In the second game GPS out of Chattanooga escaped with a 2-0 win. The Lady Pioneers played GPS to a 0-0 tie over the first 35 minutes of play. But Warren County had a couple of breakdowns on defense and allowed the GPS to goals in the last five-minutes of play.

The junior varsity took on Shelbyville and fell 4-0. Shelbyville moved the ball with ease as the Lady Pioneers struggled on defense.

“Our effort today was a little disappointing,” said coach Hamilton. “We didn’t play very smart, we made several stupid mistakes on defense. I told the girls we can’t afford to make mistakes on defense or it would cost us the game and that’s what happen. We played 80 minutes and didn’t have a shot on goal all day. We have to work as a team better than we did today.”

Hamilton sent his junior varsity team up against powerhouse Shelbyville and quickly found out the Lady Pioneers have to become more aggressive.

“Our JV team doesn’t have a lot of experience but their quick learners,” stated Hamilton. “Shelbyville has one of the strongest teams they have ever filled. Our girls have a ways to go. Our skill level and ball touches are something we have a lot of work to do but this is a good group of young players and they’ll make the adjustments.

“The varsity games had some positives, as far as coaching is concerned. They highlighted what we need to work on. I’m going to have to change the line-up around and move a few girls into some new positions. I got what I wanted out of the play-day, I just wish we had a few better results on scoring.”