Lady Vols get off to slow start during loss at home
It wasn’t the finish of the match that concerned Starkville Academy girls head soccer coach John Morgan the most, but the beginning.
The Lady Volunteers did not get off to the start that they wanted on Thursday against the East Rankin Academy Lady Patriots and the result was a 5-4 loss at the Starkville Sportsplex.
Mia Kate Cade was able to get the outing tied for Starkville Academy at 4-4 with a goal with about 1 minute to play, but East Rankin Academy came back and scored with 10 seconds remaining to take the victory.
“We’ve got to get goals sooner,” Morgan said. “Instead of having the pressure on us, we’ve got to put pressure on everybody else.”
The Lady Vols had a difficult time getting on the field for practices and games this week, mainly because of the rain from Tropical Storm Ida.
Starkville Academy senior Anna Claire Heflin said the team has to deal with adversity better and get out of the gates faster in matches.
“We just were not ready going into the game,” Heflin said. “We’ve got to come out a little bit faster. Once we get our groove going and get all of our injured players back, we’ll have a really successful season.”
Cade had a hat trick in the loss as she added two more goals to go with the one she scored late for the Lady Vols. Sara Stokes Mcreynolds had the other goal.
Morgan knew that East Rankin Academy was going to bright “the fight” with it to Starkville and it wasn’t going to be easy.
“We knew this team was going to be a tough team,”
Morgan said. “They are wellcoached. Coach (Steven) Simmons at East Rankin does a good job with them. We knew we were going to be in for a fight even though they were short-handed.”
Starkville Academy saw its record slip to 10-6 overall, which is not where it wants to be.
The Lady Vols do still hold on to their Division II record of 1-0 after defeating Heritage a little over a week ago. The two teams meet again on Tuesday in Columbus.
Morgan doesn’t want his team to forget the East Rankin Academy loss too soon though.
“This is one that hopefully stings,” Morgan said. “That’s what you want is some of those that kind of stings and makes you want to take it a little bit harder the next time and get after it a little harder the next time. We’ve got to start faster and got to start better than what we’ve been doing.”