Jasper falls from state title chase
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

After a third place district finish, the Jasper Lady Bulldog soccer team lost 6-0 to Whitehouse (Tyler) in the first round of playoffs Thursday, March 20.

Jasper finished the regular season with a 12-4 district record and 15-6 on the year. It was their best-ever showing.

Whitehouse, a seasoned second place team out of District 17-4A came into the game with a 13-2-1 record.

"Whitehouse was able to control the tempo of the game with their passing ability," Coach Ron Vickers said. "Although they took repeated shots at goalie Marcie Ratcliff early in the game, our defense was able to hold off the scoring until midway through the first half."

Whitehouse shot past Ratcliff on an attack that switched sides to find the opening giving them their first goal. Later in the half, they scored again when a long kick took a high bounce on hard ground went over the goalie and into the net.

In the second half, Whitehouse's passing continued to put defenders in the wrong place to stop repeated shots, Vickers said. The opponents took almost 40 shots on goal in all. Jasper held them to six goals but came up emptyhanded. Ratcliff had 26 saves.

"Although the loss was difficult for the girls, it was another step in the growth of the soccer program," Vickers said. "There were 10 girls who are either sophomores or freshmen. We will miss graduating seniors Jessica Alvis, Amanda Miesch, and Brooke Wagnon, but this team expects to grow and improve in the years to come."

Jasper split their last two regular season games with a 3-0 loss to second place Nacogdoches and a 4-1 win over Livingston.

In the second half, the Lady Dragons did a good job of passing, Vickers said, and scored two more unanswered goals.

"We never seemed to get on track," Vickers said. "The week's practices had been disrupted with poor weather and the girls hadn't been able to get on the field to touch the ball since their victory over Diboll the previous Wednesday. That lack showed in the way we played."

In the Livingston game, Jasper began slowly but soon took charge. Haley Shipman took a penalty kick about 10 minutes into the game and drilled it past the goalie. Two minutes later, Shipman scored again when she dribbled past the goalie and shot into the empty net. Shipman then performed a "hat trick" when she shot another successful goal before the end of the first half.

In the second half, Jasper continued to dominate allowing Livingston to take a total of only eight shots on goal to 23 shots for the Lady 'Dogs. Charlotte O'Brien scored when she took a ball that was outside the box and find the back of the net.

On Livingston's last shot of the game, they were able to finally get past goalie Marci Ratcliff and score a late goal to make the final Jasper 4, Livingston 1.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the season with an overall record of 15-6, the highest number of wins in a season since the soccer program began at Jasper High School. In addition to this year, Jasper competed in the playoffs in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

"Most of the earlier districts were composed of five or six teams," Vickers said. "This year's districts statewide have eight, nine or 10 teams. We knew before the season began, that it would take 11 or 12 district wins to make the playoffs. Our goal was to win 12 games. We finished as the top 3A team in our district made up of four 4A and five 3A teams."