The DeKalb County High School Lady Tigers Soccer team started their season with a win last week, getting an impressive victory against Jackson County. The match-up, held on Aug. 20, saw seven goals from five different players on the young team.
The scoring started early for the Lady Tigers with Alexis Nokes striking first and giving DeKalb the early lead. Lexi wasn’t finished, getting another goal shortly after and putting DeKalb up, 2-0.
The girls seemed at ease on the field, working together and passing the ball for position. The game went on until late in the first half when Jerica Braswell came away with a goal with only three minutes left on the clock. The goal gave DeKalb a 3-0 score at halftime.
Only six minutes into the second half, Angeles Soto added to the Lady Tigers’ tally, putting them up 4-0. Six minutes later, Haliegh Bass would join the scoring drive with a goal of her own.
Jerica Braswell showed she wasn’t finished with her day as she came away with another goal with 15 minutes left on the clock.
As the clock wound down to under three minutes, Angeles Soto would get an indirect kick, getting it to Jessica Billings, who came away with a goal and putting the team at 7-0.
It looked as if the Lady Tigers would come away with a shutout, but with only 30 seconds left on the clock, Jackson County was able to find the net. DeKalb took the win, 7-1.
Angeles Soto and Lydia Trail each had an assist in the game, with Kamien Sparks having two assists. Jessica Billings also recorded three saves during play.
"I think things went pretty well," Coach Dylan Kleparek told the Review after the game. "I think we improved from Saturday. As a whole team, we knew where to play, where our positions were, and how to work the ball. We kind of ironed out some of our indecision."
Coach K said that while the win was a good start, there are far more skilled opponents coming up. "Overall, this team was not a big challenge for us, and we know that. We’re going to have to build to be better than just beating this team. However, I feel good about how we played. We played everybody. Everybody got in and got a lot of good time. I saw some good things out of some young players that I needed to see."
From their victory at home, the Lady Tigers next traveled to Murfreesboro to take on last year’s district champions. On Thursday, the team took on Central Magnet in a district game that proved much tougher than Jackson County.
The Lady Tigers were only able to come away with one goal, but had five attempts. It was the district champs that would come away with the win, beating DeKalb 3-1.
The team’s only goal would come from Angeles Soto 15 minutes into the second half. Goalie Jessica Billings would have seven saves.
"They’re a strong team," Coach K said. "They’re a magnet school and they draw in a lot of good players. We really have to work on building and improving. We need to peak at the end of the season. We’ve got a lot more games coming and our biggest games are at the end of the year."
The Lady Tigers took on Livingston Academy at home on Tuesday, and will travel to face Goodpasture on Thursday.