Soccer Lady Cougars Battle To Tie

The Piedmont Academy Lady Cougars soccer team went into its recent matchup with Westminster hoping to secure second place in the region.

The end result was a scoreless tie, however, as defense was the order of the match.

“The first half was a hard fought game with both teams having scoring chances,” said Piedmont coach Dwain Landress. “Our goalkeeper made what turned out to be the play of the game when Carley Cain stopped a one-on-one break away with a world class save.

“The second half we played the better part of the game on their side of the field with Jerica Jenkins just missing several scoring chances and Andie Lewis narrowly missing just over the crossbar as time in regulation expired.”

In overtime, Landress said the Lady Cougars dominated the first overtime period just missing on several occasions. Westminster repaid the favor and just missed scoring on several chances in the second overtime.

“As the season comes to a end we are really excited at the level of play the girls are starting to show,” Landress said. “It is a lot like they did as we made the run to the final four last season.”

In recent action for the Piedmont boys, the team dropped a 7-1 decision to Young Americans.

“We played a very strong first half but we missed four sure scoring chances and gave up a soft goal,” Landress said. “Just before half the ref made a very questionable call and awarded them a penalty kick and they and went into half leading 2-0.”

In the second half, the ball just bounced the opponent’s way, the coach said, and suddenly the Cougars were down 4-0.

“The boys lost some of the spirit they had in the first 10 minutes,” Landress said.

Sam Cleary got a goal but not much else happened offensively as Piedmont lost a game it really needed to have a chance of making the playoffs.

The Cougars then played Westminster at home falling 6-1.
Landress said it was once again a case where his team played a strong first half creating plenty of scoring chances.

“In the second half, we started strong but this year we can’t find a real scoring threat,” the coach said. “They then scored a soft goal and that seemed to open the flood gates and another strong effort was lost in a lopsided final score.

“On the bright side, eighth grader Austin Bass scored our lone goal. He has been with the program three years and this is the first year he could play.”