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By Guest Columnist Jim Asher
ZEBULON - On Wednesday, May 9th, the Lady Pirates traveled to Blessed Trinity and very nearly pulled off the upset of this year’s tournament.
In the 2nd Round of the State AA Playoffs, the Pike County Lady Pirates faced off with the #1 Ranked Blessed Trinity Lady Titans in what would be their most difficult game of the season. Despite being decided underdogs, Pike County came into the game with a plan and executed it to near perfection. While everyone outside of Pike County probably wrote the team off, Coach Justin O’Steen developed a defensive game plan designed to slow the game down and hopefully take away some of the speed and experience advantage that the Lady Tritons held. Employing a stout defense anchored by Senior Lindsey Thompson, Junior Jessi Johnson, Sophomore Abby Wheeless and Freshman Asia Harris, and backed up by Junior Goalkeeper Taylor Asher, the Lady Pirates absorbed the Blessed Trinity pressure, stayed focused on the game plan and never broke. Despite facing a sustained onslaught, Asher would eventually face 30 total shots and 20 Shots on Goal during the course of the evening, the Lady Titans were unable to find the net until midway through the 1st half when one of their players sent a shot in high that Asher was unable to stop despite getting her fingers on the ball. The Lady Pirates continued to employ their defensive game plan throughout the rest of the half keeping the score close at 1-0.
In the second half, the Lady Titans continued to press hard, keeping nearly all the possession in Pike County’s defensive third while repeatedly peppering Asher with shots. Around the mid-point of the second half, Blessed Trinity was able to break through for their second goal. At a point when many teams would have folded their tents and settled for the result, the Lady Pirates decided to send this game out on their own terms. With around 5 minutes remaining in the match, Pike County earned a free kick inside the Blessed Trinity half of the field. As she has been asked to do many times in the last three years, Johnson stepped to the ball and launched a deep cross into the Lady Titan goal box where Freshman Abbey Thompson, battling a Blessed Trinity defender, managed to win a touch sending the ball to Sophomore Gianella Funes. Funes took one touch and then calmly deposited the ball in the back corner. Luckily for the Lady Titans, the game ended shortly thereafter and they were able to claim the victory and a trip to the Elite 8.
Despite the loss, the Lady Pirates can lay claim to two very important statistics; in the past two State Playoff seasons , they are the only team outside of Region 6-AA to score on the Blessed Trinity Lady Titans and they are also the only team to hold them to less than eight goals. The resiliency and drive of this group of young ladies, who have overcome an unsteady start to eventually give the #1 ranked team in the State all that they could handle, is proof positive that soccer is alive and well at Pike County High School.
For the season, the Lady Pirates compiled a record of 10 wins and 8 losses while scoring 78 goals and allowing just 19. The team’s leading scorer for the 2012 season was Johnson with 16 goals and the team leader in assists was Freshman Ashley York with eight for the season. As has been the norm in the past, Coach O’Steen worked hard to make sure that every player on the roster managed to score at least one goal, including Asher who had three goals and two assists to go along with a Goals Against Average of 1.20 (1.2 goals allowed per 80 minutes played in goal) while logging 1270 minutes in goal.