The Lady Dragons had much nicer weather to open regional play than they had last week. On a warm fall evening, South won 6-0 over District 16 runnerup Bullitt East earning their ninth shutout in a row as the defense continues to be stingy.
This observer got there a little late so missed the starting lineup for the evening, but arrived in time to see SOHS put some serious offensive pressure on the Lady Chargers, as Emily Cobb had a good shot on goal as I walked to the field. Shortly thereafter, Ally Tucker made a nice assist to Lauren Wilson only to have the shot miss high. With 33:25 on the clock, Lauren booted a strong roller towards the right corner that the goalie dropped to touch, but couldn't stop for the Dragon's first goal and a 1-0 lead.
Bullitt East got their first shot on goal with 30:42 left in the first period that was corralled by starting goalie Anna Simpson. A couple of minutes later, Emily Cobb took a free kick after a foul but just missed over the top. South's second goal came at 28:40 as Jennifer Sibert "headed" an assist to Stephanie Hay who finished for a 2-0 lead. Hay returned the favor with a nice assist to Sibert forcing the goalie out to make a play allowing Sibert to pass her and tap it in for a 3-0 lead.
Junior Shana Bertetto gave a strong effort and had several nice shots on goal throughout the first half keeping the pressure on Bullitt East. Katie Moore and Andrea Schott also had good attempts in the half. One of the nicer plays of the evening occurred with under 15 minutes left when Megan Davis started a run just before midfield with a pass to Schott who advanced the ball to Bertetto who crossed to Tyler Skelton who slammed it home to make it 4-0 Dragons.
Goalie Anna Simpson made a "heads-up" play with 11:10 left when she raced out of the box, after a Lady Charger kick took a strange bounce and skipped by the defense, to boot it well past midfield to end the threat. Simpson also collected a tricky looper into the box with 2:44 left and Beth Morris answered for South with a arching shot collected by the Bulitt East goalie 24 seconds later. The last two minutes were uneventful and found SOHS leading 4-0 at the break.
The Lady Chargers stormed out for the second half with a shot on goal just 35 seconds in collected by goalie Libby Oliver. Two minutes later, they were awarded a free-kick which was deflected over the end line giving them a corner. An arching corner kick sailed over Oliver's head and bounced around dangerously in front of the Dragon's goal, but was finally cleared.
South fought back over the next 5 minutes with several threats. Hay missed wide right off a pass by Tucker. Tucker followed that with a strong left foot shot which glanced off the left post. Then Hay made a great cross to Megan Davis who kicked a looper off the crossbar. Perhaps the "prettiest" goal of the game came when Lindsay Anna fired a cross from the left side that Stephanie Hay booted in the air with her left foot past the helpless Lady Charger goalie and a 5-0 lead with about 32 minutes remaining in the game.
The Lady Dragons continued to control play and kept up the pressure over the next 15 minutes with shots by Melissa Rabold, Beth Morris, Andrea Schott, and Bertetto during that stretch. With Oliver and Stephanie Whonsettler manning goal in the second half, Coach Tucker put Anna Simpson on the field with 14:20 left and a minute later she got an assist with a nice pass to Beth Morris at midfield who "fought" off a persistent defender and slammed her shot into the back right corner for South's final goal and a 6-0 lead with 13:20 to go.
Morris had another strong shot on goal after receiving a pass from Rabold with 4:20 left, but the goalie made the play. Lindsay Anna had her second nice cross finding Rabold who got her head on it but missed wide left. Rabold also took a penalty kick for the Dragons when a handball in the box was called, but the Bullitt East goalie made a great stop on the kick. The Lady Chargers had one last threat, getting a free kick after a very questionable yellow card on Adrian Clodfelter, but it sailed wide right..
The Dragon's did incur an injury on the night when senior starting midfielder Emily DeYoung suffered an ankle injury in the first half of the contest. She walked off the field on her own but had severe swelling requiring immediate attention from the trainer and others on the sidelines. She was taken from the field on a stretcher. As of Tuesday morning the news was that it was not broken but badly sprained and she would have to stay off it for 5-7 days. I will keep her in our prayers as I know all of the South Oldham Lady Dragon's family will...
