Big second half leads to Lady Wolf win
PEARCY — Despite a rough first half, Lake Hamilton found its rhythm in the second to take a 3-0 victory over Hope Monday night at Wolf Stadium.
With junior forward Caitlyn Porter not available to play this week, the Lady Wolves (4-3, 2-3 5A/6A-6) were forced to shift players around.
“We don’t have Porter this week; she’s out of town,” said head coach Stacey Scott. “The kids really picked up and played really well. We had some kids in different positions. We didn’t play a very good first half; we were very sluggish. We came alive in the second half.”
Junior Brooklyn Bailey got the offense rolling for the Lady Wolves, taking a long shot that bounced over the head of Hope goalkeeper Hanna McCorkle to put the home team up 1-0.
“That kind of gave us the spark that we needed,” Scott said. “We played a lot better the second half, putting a lot of pressure on them. We passed the ball well. We did what we needed to do the second half. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do Friday for Lakeside.”
Freshman Kaili Birmingham and senior Logan Keener scored the last two goals for the Lady Wolves, Keener’s coming off a penalty kick.
Sophomore defender Kayla Mark was one of the players who was moved to a new position, moving from a back defender into the midfield.
“Kayla Mark had a great game last night,” Scott said. “She usually plays just defense, and we moved her up to a midfield defense. She kind of played the whole field. She was a spark we needed that whole game. She played really well.”
The Lady Wolves will travel to Lakeside Friday night for their second meeting of the season. The Lady Rams (6-4, 4-0) defeated Lake Hamilton 3-0 at Wolf Stadium on March 9. Hope (2-7, 2-4) will play host to Texarkana (1-5, 1-3) on Friday. Boys
Lake Hamilton’s boys struggled against a tough Hope team Monday, falling 6-1 in a mercy ruled match at Wolf Stadium.
Hope (4-5, 2-4 5A/6A-6) rolled to a 5-0 lead in the first half.
“They jumped on us pretty quick,” said Lake Hamilton (5-5, 2-3) head coach Stan Cooper. “In the first 20 minutes, I think they jumped on us, 4-0. They move the ball around really well. I felt like the pace of the game was something that we weren’t really used to as far as with the amount of freshman I have starting. Last night, I had to start four freshmen. I have a couple … that will be out this week.”
Lake Hamilton scored its only goal in the second half with about 12 minutes left after falling behind 6-0.
“Hope played well together,” Cooper said. “They’re just overall a good team. Their goalie was quick. We had a few shots on goal, but overall they were just a much better team skill-wise. The thing I was impressed with about them was their communication. They talked really well together. “
Last week, Cooper made some personnel changes, giving one of his ninth graders a starting spot that has helped the team’s performance.
“Last week, I made them move and put in one of my ninth graders, Eli Shields, and moved him to midfield,” he said. “He seems to help control the midfield a little better. … Making that move last week has helped a lot. It’s helped a lot as far as controlling the midfield some. My other ninth grader, Dereck Strong, he had our only goal last night in the second half. He basically got by the guy with the ball and shot it by the goalie.”
The Wolves struggled to get shots off, taking just eight in the match.
“Hope was real good about taking away your shot,” Cooper said, “taking away getting in the passing lanes and taking away some of the passes we thought
we would be able to make.”
The Wolves will face Lakeside (7-2-1, 3-1) Friday in a rematch of the March 9 loss at Wolf Stadium.
“We’ve got a big game this week with Lakeside, and we’re trying to make some adjustments with two starters out,” Cooper said. “We’ll have to see how. Lakeside’s good, like Hope is. We played them here earlier. They only beat us 4-2. I felt like we handled them OK. At the same time, with Eli in the middle which I didn’t have at the time, it’s going to be interesting to see against them.”