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Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

West Jessamine blanks LCA

NICHOLASVILLE — West Jessamine's Arin Gilliland and Lexington Christian's Maddie Boone traded shots in spurts Tuesday night, almost as if motivated by one another.

In the game's first minute, Boone fired a shot that grazed the crossbar. Two minutes later, Gilliland's first shot whizzed by the left post.

That sequence set the stage for the rest of the game, but Gilliland got a shot into the net and Boone didn't, and the No. 6 Lady Colts (13-3-3) prevailed, 2-0.

Gilliland fired a shot from just outside the box in the 27th minute that was initially deflected by Lexington Christian goalkeeper Myranda Powers.

Powers batted the ball down and it bounced up, hit the crossbar and crept over the goal line.

"I saw an open shot at the top of the box. I know LCA's keeper plays volleyball, so she's good in the air," Gilliland said. "But if I hit it as hard as I could, she might bobble it. That's what I did, and it went in."

Just a minute later, Boone was in good position to add the equalizer. On a fast break with only Lady Colts' goalkeeper Allison Brown to beat, Boone fired her shot into Brown's outstretched leg.

West Jessamine Coach Kevin Wright gave credit to Gilliland for her hard work on offense, but he said Brown's play put his team over the top.

"Allison has had a few games where she's made a mistake here or there, and that's been the difference," Wright said. "I was a goalkeeper in high school and in college, so I know you're either the goat or the hero.

"You can make 30 great saves and one mistake and lose 1-0," he said. "She made that breakaway save, and the whole team built on it."

Toria Howard scored the other Lady Colts goal.

Gilliland said the competition between her and Boone is nothing new; the two met each other in youth soccer and played together on a U-12 team.

"It seems like we've known each other forever," Gilliland said. "She's really good on the ball ... I just happened to get the better of it tonight."

Lexington Catholic 6, Paul Dunbar 0: Lexington Catholic Coach Terry Quigley expects Chelsea Smith to score, he said. Just not in threes.

Smith scored the game's first three goals — all in a seven-minute span of play — and the No. 5 Lady Knights (14-4-1) pulled away past Paul Dunbar.

It was a scoreless tie late in the first half when Smith caught the Lady Bulldogs (6-11-1) looking to intermission two seconds too early.

With both teams seemingly waiting out the clock at midfield, the ball popped loose, and Smith broke free. She beat Dunbar goalkeeper Autumn Williams in a chase for the ball and she scored just before the halftime horn sounded.

Once play resumed in the second half, Catholic took its momentum and rolled. Smith's second goal came in the 44th minute she completed her hat trick three minutes later.

"In soccer, once you get behind a little bit, the winds go out of your sails sometimes," Quigley said. "I'm not saying that's what happened to Dunbar tonight, but it's happened to me before."