Lady Bulldogs settle into third place in district
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

Newsboy photos/Georgia Purdy JASPER’S ALLISON COLLINS dribbles the ball upfield during last week’s soccer contest.

The Jasper Lady Bulldog soccer team lost 2-1 to Nacogdoches Tuesday and then went on to defeat Center 10-1 in a make-up game Thursday. That puts Jasper in third place in the first-half district standings, behind Henderson (7-0) and Nacogdoches (7-1)

The game with Nacogdoches remained scoreless at the half with both teams playing strong defense. With 33:31 remaining in the second half, the Lady Bulldogs' Allison Collins scored the first goal.

"As the Lady Dogs penetrated into the Nacogdoches' end, the ball was served to left midfielder, Allison Collins, who outmaneuvered the defensive wing and dribbled toward the goal before sending the ball arching to the far right back corner of the goal," Coach Ron Vickers said.

Vickers said that Jasper's defense held and goalie Marci Ratcliff was able to keep all attempts out of the net until after a free kick fro near the middle of the field. At that point, a Nac forward split two defenders with a kick that found the back of the net.

For the next four minutes, neither team could break the deadlock. Then, with 4:22 left on the clock, Nacogdoches scored after Jasper had taken a goal kick.

"The player struck the ball just before the defense collapsed on her and threaded the ball between two players to score the winning ball," Vickers said.

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy JASPER'S CHARLOTTE O'BRIEN back-kicks the ball away from a Henderson defender during last week's game. Coming in to assist O'Brien is Amanda Miesch (#6) while Brooke Wagnon is in the background.

The Lady 'Dogs found an easy win over Center. After no score in the first 10 minutes, Jasper was awarded a penalty kick on a hand ball. Haley Shipman took the shot and found the top left corner of the net. From that time on, the scoring came quickly.

Natalie Dufner scored twice in the next 10 minutes, once on an assist from Allison Collins and again on a failed shot by Caroline Kipp that bounced off the goalie and Dufner managed to trap it.

With a little more than 11 minutes left in the first half, Caroline Kipp shot from the left side and struck a defender and the ball bounced into the goal.

"Next it was Dufner back in action with a finish of a corner kick that was mishandled by the goalie," Vickers said. "This was Dufner's first 'hat trick' of the year and also the first of two by Jasper players on this night."

The next trick came with from Tabitha and Brooke Wagnon.

"With just over eight minutes left in the first half, the Wagnon sisters got into the action," Vickers said. "Midfielder Tab Wagnon crossed the ball to her sister who was playing right wing. Brooke dribbled ahead of the defender and shot an arching shot past the goalie and into the net."

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy JASPER'S NATALIE DUFNER kicks the ball upfield during a soccer contest last week in Jasper.

With just under 8 minutes left, midfielder Charlotte O'Brien scored on an assist again from Allison Collins to make the score 7-0 at halftime.

The final three scores were by Haley Shipman and Amanda Miesch. Shipman completed her trick with a second penalty kick and a short shot into the goal after she had outdribbled the goalie. Miesch scored with 7:56 left in the game.

"The shut-out was accomplished by a combination of starting goalie Marci Ratcliff and back-up Charlotte O'Brien," Vickers said. "The defense was tough all night and deserves much credit for not allowing shots by the Center team."

Jasper played Livingston Monday night and will be at home Friday against Hudson. Varsity begins at 6 p.m.