Contact: Jenni Brockman
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Margaret's Finds the Wright Stuff; Defeats Virginia Episcopal
Lacey Wright put the icing on St. Margaret's victory last Friday, December 11th over league rival Virginia Episcopal School (VES) in Lynchburg. Wright, a senior left-wing halfback, fired a bullet kick into the goal late in the second half which helped clinch a 5 - 1 win for the Scotties. Wright was the unanimous pick for game 'hero' by her teammates; the shot marked her first goal in this her first year as a varsity player. "It was nice to see that goal go because we usually expect the same two or three [players] to put them in and it's not always Lacey we see doing that," says junior defensive fullback Katie Hawks.
Varsity soccer players, (pictured l. to r.) Laura Austin, Beth Wilson, Catherine Redfearn, Lauren Steinenger, and Tess Duncan "take a knee" in celebration of their 5-1 win over Virginia Episcopal last week.
SMS fell behind early, 0 - 1, in the opening minutes as VES scored a fluke goal that dribbled past SMS senior goalkeeper Cynthia Walker. "I'm not sure how that one made it in there. It was weird," comments Walker. "I think we were still groggy from the [3 hour] van ride." Walker rallied and gave a brilliant defensive performance for the rest of the contest, stopping every shot-on-goal she faced.
The Scotties quickly woke up offensively and answered back with a powerful goal by senior Tri-Captain Elizabeth Sadler which pulled the Scotties even with VES, at 1 - 1. Fellow senior and Tri-Captain Kim Houck assisted Sadler's goal and answered back minutes later scoring a goal of her own which gave the Scotties their first lead, with the score 2 - 1. Sophomore center halfback Carol Combs, a Statesboro, GA native, scored soon after sending the Scotties to halftime with a commanding 3 - 1 lead.
VES's center-to-sidelines sloping home field, nicknamed 'the hill' by SMS players, remained comfortable turf for the Scotties in the second half. SMS was quick to the ball on defense and continued to dominate the game offensively. Combs scored a beautiful high-legged rebound goal off a corner kick by Sadler mid-way through the half, which increased the SMS lead to 4 - 1. Wright's goal in the final minute of the game proved too much for VES as the Scotties celebrated a 5 - 1 win.
Head Coach, Karen McCann, was enthusiastic about the team's aggressiveness and well-rounded play. "A vast improvement over last week's game," notes McCann, referring to the Scotties, 2 - 3, season opener loss the week before versus non-league opponent, Covenant; Sadler and Combs each scored for SMS. "We worked on our passing, defense, and overall aggressiveness this last week in practice and it really paid off," says McCann. "We looked good out there. VES is a solid team; like so many of the schools in our [L.I.S.] conference, they run a quality program and are well coached. We will play them again before the season's over."
The Scotties were missing two key players (ninth grader, Kelly Proctor; sophomore, Sara Shelton) from their lineup for Friday's game but hope to be at full-strength-a feat SMS has yet to accomplish in its first two games-for their next opponent, Trinity, on Thursday, January 7th at Trinity. Sixteen girls dressed for the game; Coach McCann and Assistant Coach Duncan played all of their players by early in the second half. On Friday, January 15th, at 3:30 p.m., SMS will host VES on its home field adjacent to the Tappahannock Middle School. SMS stands at 1 win; 1 loss for the season and will not play again before Christmas break which begins this Friday, December 18th.
About her team's performance against VES, an ecstatic Wright said, appropriately, "Yeah, baby!!" The Scotties hope to carry their momentum into 1999.
