Lady Jackets Improve To 5-0
In a busy week of action the Lady Jackets soccer program remained undefeated. The JV squad improved to 4-0 with a solid win over Wayne County, while the varsity squad improved to 5-0 and 1-0 in Region with solid wins over East Laurens, #7 Bleckley County, and Appling County.
The JV hosted Wayne County Monday. Wayne gave the Lady Jackets a tough showing early, dominating possession. Wayne managed to net one at the 21 minute mark, making it the first time all year the JD squad had trailed. The JV squad kept battling and Delilah Spencer put in the first goal followed by another goal by Valeria Valencia to take a 2-1 lead into the break.
After the break Valencia scored another goal early in the half as the Lady Jackets held a 3-1 advantage. Wayne scored a second goal late in the period to make it a 3-2 final. The JV squad will travel to Brunswick next week to face the Lady Pirates.
Tuesday, the varsity squad traveled to East Laurens for the first region match. The reigning region champs proved to be tough competition as they dominated possession in the first half and scored the lone goal on a penalty kick to take a 1-0 advantage into the break.
The Lady Jackets settled down in the second half and netted three goals to take the 3-1 win. Zoe Spencer scored the first goal to even the match at 1-1. Joselyn Avila then gave the squad the advantage as she redirected a corner kick from Sandra Trejo to make the game 2-1. Spencer added a second goal with 10 minutes remaining to take the lead to 3-1. East Laurens couldn’t put anything else on the board as the score held 3-1.
Thursday, the 3-0 Lady Jackets traveled to Cochran to face off with the #7 ranked Bleckley County, who were 7-1 on the season. Trejo got the Lady Jackets on the board first on a free kick from just outside the box, as the kick sailed over the reach of the Bleckley County goalie. Bleckley struck next on a PK to tie the score 1-1. Trejo scored a second goal to make it 2-1. The remainder of the half was a stalemate.
Bleckley County came out the second half and dominated possession but couldn’t score. Spencer added two more goals to the Lady Jackets’ total, scoring at the 19 minute mark and a few minutes later around the 16 minute mark, both goals were on assists from Payton Thigpen. Those goals sealed the deal for the Lady Jackets for a 4-1 final.
Friday, the Lady Jackets faced off with rival Appling County. The Lady Pirates came to town without a win but that wouldn’t stop them from challenging the Lady Jackets as they looked tired and banged up from two tough games early in the week. The JDHS squad refused to let the tough week cost them the first loss of the year and kept battling to find team rhythm. Half way through the first period the Lady Jackets started to put together some quality possessions and Flor Rangel scored on a pass from Spencer for the 1-0 advantage. Later in the half Spencer redirected a corner kick from Avila but the header was off target. Trejo played the ball off the header from Spencer to score the second and final goal of the half for the 2-0 lead.
Trejo quickly scored a second goal to start the half on a PK to put the Lady Jackets up 3-0. Appling County scored a goal late in the half to bring the score to 3-1. Rangel scored two more late goals for the hat trick for the 5-1 final.
The win moved the Lady Jackets to 5-0 on the season. The Lady Jackets will move into the thick of region play over the next couple weeks. This week the team will host Swainsboro (6-2) Tuesday and Woodville-Tompkins (2-3) Thursday.
