The Lady Titans fell short of beating the 3A Jasper Lady Wildcats in a non-conference game on Saturday, September, 14.
The Lady Wildcats scored their goals in the first 40 minutes of the game, leading 2-0 at the half. Despite trailing, head coach Sylvia Sellers stayed positive with her team, never saying anything negative, according to junior Corinne Stevens. Sellers did not change her formation for the second half, staying with two forwards. She reminded the girls to watch their marks, focus on the game, and talk.
In the second half, the Lady Titans kept Jasper from finding the back of the net.
Stevens scored the only goal for the Titans that night with 18 minutes remaining in the game.
“I remember thinking, I’m not at a good angle; I’m just kicking it as hard as I can,” Stevens said. “I just shot it and was like, ‘Oh, it went in.’”
Stevens was back for her first game after battling a hip injury earlier in the season.
“I was so excited to be back on the field and playing with my girls,” Stevens said. “My hip did not hurt at all, there was no pain because I took extra care and did not rush the recovery process.”
Sophomore Izzy Pohl got the assist for the Lady Titans. She also had a steal.
The Titans had opportunities to tie the game, taking six shots with five of them being on goal.
“We played a great game against a great team, just didn’t come out on top,” Stevens said. “At the end of the game, we were very tired because we had played lots of other games earlier that week.”
The 6’2” sophomore, Paige Schnaus, was at the goal for the Lady Titans. That morning she made 16 saves. Of the two goals scored by the Lady Wildcats, one came from miscommunication between a teammate and her.
“I had one of my best games of the season if you take out that one little mistake,” Schnaus said. “I am glad my team was there to back me up and still support me even after the mistake.”
Despite the loss, there were some positives from the game, and the girls were able to identify some weaknesses and work to fix them.
“My team fought hard,” Sellers said. “We needed to work on a few things in practice against a faster team like Jasper, but overall we played well. We made a few more mistakes than them.”
This loss to the Wildcats made the Lady Titans’ overall record 5-3, but they are still 4-1 in the conference. The girls are second in the Pocket Athletic Conference, behind Heritage Hills, and will remain there if they win the rest of their conference games.
The Lady Titans will be back to play the Southridge Raiders at home on September 30.
