Jasper splits opening games
By GEORGIA PURDY

JASPER'S VALERIE DUFNER takes a ball from a Center player and passes it downfield during the Lady Bulldogs 4-0 victory last week.

The Jasper Lady Bulldog soccer team split the first two district games last week, beating out Center 4-0 and falling to district co-leader Henderson 8-0.

"We spent the week working on passing after the Henderson game and came out ready to play Center Friday nigh and even our district record," coach Ron Vickers said.

Caroline Kipp scored the first goal less than 10 minutes into the first half on a shot set up by forwards Valerie and Natalie Dufner.

Natalie Dufner came back to score the second goal with good assists from her teammates. Before the half, Kipp took another successful shot and the Lady 'Dogs were up 3-0.

Jasper's defense was able to shut down any threat from the Lady Raiders so that goalie Marcie Ratcliff seldom touched the ball.

Kipp earned the fourth and final goal early in the second half.

"It was a beautiful arching shot by mid-fielder Caroline Kipp that hooked from the left side of the fild to the back right of the goal," Vickers said. "As the ball was about to go in, it was tipped into the goal by a Center defensive player."

JASPER'S JESSICA ALVIS battles with an opponent for a loose ball during a soccer contest last week.The Lady Bulldogs defeated Center but fell to Henderson in contests played last week.

Jasper kept up pressure on the Center defense in the last 20 minutes and worked together to control the ball with some excellent passing.

In last Tuesday's contest with Henderson, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves in a defensive position against a superior passing attack.

"Through hard work and good play by the back defense and goalie, Marcie Ratcliff, the score remained 0-0 through the first 20 minutes," Vickers said. "At that point, Henderson was able to score with a forward who had 30 goals last year during the season."

Jasper continued to play mostly defense, seldom making serious threats against Henderson, who scored three more times during the first half and continued to dominate the field throughout the game.

"There were several bright spots even in the lopsided defeat," Vickers said. "Goalie Marcie Ratcliff had almost 20 saves during the game and the defense showed great determination even with the game was out of reach."

Junior Varsity also lost 8-0 to the more experienced Henderson. (Not all schools have a jv team, so sometimes these younger players sub on varsity.)

The junior varsity began the evening with a loss to the more experienced Henderson team.

"With good passing and control of the ball the Henderson team was able to shoot often on first time goalie Jordan Causey," Vickers said.

Even though the team showed a lot of effort, they were down 5-0 by the end of the first period.

Vickers said that the game became a good learning experience because it gave his younger team an opportunity to work on defense against the superior passing skills of the opponent.

At the end of last week's play, Henderson and Jacksonville were 2-0; Jasper, Nacogdoches, Palestine, and Lufkin-Hudson were 1-1. Livingston and Center were 0-2.

Jasper played Palestine last night and will be at home against Jacksonville Friday night. Game time is 5:30 p.m.