Opportunistic Lady Tigers Kick Up Soccer Energy

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove (2-3-2, 1-1-1) avoided a potential late game goal and held off Berryville, 2-1, in girls soccer action at Tiger Den Stadium on Tuesday, April 5.

Out of nowhere a Bobcat forward broke on the goal. Prairie Grove goalkeeper Taci Vickery was slow to react before coming out of the net to smother the ball and stop the threat with 1:15 remaining in the second half.

“We felt like she should have come off her line earlier, however, at the end of the day she made the save when it mattered and so we just got to communicate better,” said Prairie Grove coach Mat Stewart.

Vickery picked up valuable experience and grew into the role last season. The difference this year manifests in her supporting cast. With the graduation of five key starters several rookies have been thrust into the lineup.

“We have a keeper who’s been with us a year, played well last year, but she’s got young kids in front of her so she’s got to think on her toes so to speak,” Stewart said.

The season has been up and down yet the Lady Tigers have played hard the whole time so Stewart said he never will take that away from the kids. The Lady Tigers are young, like a lot of teams, and don’t have any soccer experience in positions where they lost five key starters from last year.

“We have a couple back, but for the most part we’re starting tenth graders and ninth graders with eleventh graders scattered here and there. We’re getting better each game; we’ve had a hard time scoring right now but we’re having opportunities and hopefully we can start capitalizing on some of these opportunities and start making things happen,” Stewart said.

Elaina Kirik scored the Lady Tigers’ goal in the first half while Ella Faulk scored a goal in the second half to lift Prairie Grove to a 2-1 victory. Stewart attributed the goals to assertiveness on the field and being in the right place at an opportune moment.

“Just aggressive plays, one of them went off the keeper in the second half and we capitalized on that. On the first one we got a steal off of some pressure and she scored on an open net. It was very physical on both team’s parts and it’s always a good matchup when we play Berryville. They’re wellcoached and they always play very hard. We didn’t match their intensity early in the game. We finally turned it up a notch in the second half,” Stewart said.

Stewart did his best during halftime to impress the urgency of putting forth an effort equal to that of their opponent. The Lady Tigers responded individually and collectively by getting themselves involved in the match.

“We talked about our energy level. I told the kids if it’s not where it needs to be if you’re going to beat a good team and in this conference there’s no easy wins. If you don’t come out ready to play you’re going to get beat. So we talked about our energy level and our effort and quit ball-watching; instead be first to the ball,” Stewart said.