Women's Soccer | 2/7/2024 7:29:00 AM

On a beautiful February night at Arrow Field, the Lady Arrows opened their postseason title defense with a win over the Hernando Lady Tigers by a score of 1-0.  The win moves the Lady Arrows to 13-4-2 on the year and 1-0 in the playoffs.

The score does not indicate the amount of control the Lady Arrows had on the game.  From start to finish, the Lady Arrows dominated possession and continuously created chances to score.  The front line of Sophomore Kayla Jones, Sophomore Ruby Acy, and 7th Grader Jamilah Williams continuously received passes from Senior Lauren Warner and midfielders Cooper Holmes and Isabella Jones to wear down the Lady Tigers defense and pressure the goalkeeper.

In the 27th minute, Acy found the back of the net on an assist from Holmes to score the lone goal of the game.

Defensively, the Lady Arrows were more than up to the task as they did not allow much pressure from a vaunted Lady Tigers attack that had recorded 73 goals on the season.  Juniors Mandy Leach and Kate Crisler along with Seniors Mckenzie Price and Jada Watson repelled any sort of attack Hernando posed, and Senior goalkeeper Sarah Polk was able to record her 11th clean sheet of the season in 19 games.

Head Coach Elliot Rimmer said of his team's opening round win, "The name of the game in the postseason is survive and advance, and we did that tonight. The girls did well to smother anything that Hernando attempted to create, and when your defense plays well and keeps the opponent from getting chances, then it only takes one goal to win. We are looking forward to going again on Saturday at Oxford, which will be a quality opponent in a hostile environment."

The Lady Arrows are moving on the 2nd round of the playoffs, where they will travel north to Oxford to take on the Lady Chargers on Saturday afternoon.  Kickoff time is TBA.