Lady Dogs still hold onto third in district
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy JASPER'S AMANDA MIESCH kicks the ball downfield to her teammates.

After four wins in the last two weeks, the Jasper Lady Bulldog soccer team is in third place and a half game behind second place Nacogdoches.

Last week, the Lady Dogs took on two of the better teams in the district, posting a 2-0 win over Jacksonville and a 2-1 victory against Palestine.

Against Jacksonville, Natalie Dufner finished off a missed shot from the left side by Caroline Kipp to put Jasper up 1-0 with only 3:49 off the clock in the first half.

"Building on that momentum, we were able to control the tempo of the game and keep Jacksonville in their own end of the field," Coach Ron Vickers said. "We out shot them 23-15."

Before the first ten minutes were gone, freshman Haley Shipman scored her 14th goal of the season. With a 2-0 lead, Jasper's defense continued to limit their opponents' number of shots.

Vickers cited defensive players Amanda Miesch, Morgan Marx, Lindsey Bowers, Rachel Vickers, Hannah Vickers, Lauren Morgan, Danielle Lockwood, and goalie Marci Ratcliff as players most responsible for their ninth shutout of the season.

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy JASPER FRESHMAN ALLISON COLLINS gets the ball past the Palestine defender during last week's game. Jasper defeated Palestine to set up a big contest with leader Henderson this Friday at home. Henderson enters Friday's contest with Jasper undefeated and unscored on in both district and pre-district play.

"Marci Ratcliff had her best game of the season with excellent play against a team that was able to shoot on the goal 15 times," Vickers said. "Marci's punts make it possible for Jasper to rapidly get the ball into the opponent's end of the field and keep the offense involved in the game."

Friday, the Lady Dogs were at home against Palestine (4-5 in district). Although Palestine was sixth in district after the first round, Vickers said that they are a sound team that has just had some bad breaks losing several games by a single goal.

"We knew they would come to play," he said. "In our district, they are our biggest 3A competition. The rivalry has been building ever since they beat us in the final last year at the East Texas Shootout in Palestine with less than 30 seconds in the game."

Jasper took an early 1-0 lead on a penalty shot by Shipman on a hand ball by the Palestine defense inside the 18-yard box.

The Lady 'Dogs were then able to control the game, seldom letting Palestine make runs into their end of the field; and when they did, the Jasper defense and goalie Ratcliff were able to turn back the threats.

Palestine tied the game 1-1 with 22:30 left in the second half, but Jasper's Natalie Dufner responded, finishing a run that included no less than five passes between Kipp and Shipman before the pass went to the opposite side of the field to the waiting Dufner.

The previous week, the Lady Bulldogs defeated Livingston 3-0, Feb. 11, and Hudson 1-0 on Feb. 15.

Livingston was looking to even their record with Jasper in hopes of being tied for third place in 18- 4A, but with barely two minutes into the game, Allison Collins scored.

Collins was open when a shot from the right side of the field made it to the middle barely six yards from the goal.

"We continued to play well and distribute the ball, taking multiple shots at the goal," Coach Ron Vickers said. "Livingston's excellent goal tending kept the remaining shots out during the first half."

In the second half, Haley Shipman found the back of the net first, and 10 minutes later Natalie Dufner took advantage of a shot that made it past the goalie but needed a little help getting into the net.

Vickers said that his team out-shot their opponents, taking 30 shots on goal.

Friday night, the Lady Bulldogs met a very aggressive Lufkin-Hudson team.

"Hudson came ready to play the spoiler," Vickers said. "Despite very aggressive hustle from Hudson, Charlotte O'Brien was able to finish a cross past the goalie with 18:40 left in the first half."

Jasper's defense continued to take away all but an occasional shot at the goal.

With only four minutes gone in the second half, the game was called due to lightening.

By UIL rules, Jasper was declared the winner since the first half had been completed.

Jasper played Center last night and will host an important match against district leader Henderson at home on Friday.

Henderson comes in undefeated and unscored on in both district and predistrict play.

"We could sure use the support of our school and city in this game," Vickers said.

"The varsity game will begin at 7 p.m. Friday following the Junior Varsity game that starts at 5:30 p.m."