Senior Night held at Eastern –

By Wade Linville –

It was Senior Night for girls soccer at Eastern High School on Oct. 11, as the home-standing Lady Warriors played host to the Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Lady Jays.
Not only did Eastern recognize the Lady Warriors’ only senior, Madi Layton; but also recognized just prior to the start of the game were Ripley’s seven senior soccer players – Alexandra Carrizalez, Kassey Arnett, Johannah Fisher, Bailey Adams, Elizabeth Campbell, Kacy Gilkerson, and Payton Whitt.
Once play got underway, scores didn’t come easy for either team, and the contest would end in a 1-1 tie.
The Lady Warriors were quick on the attack early on in the Oct. 11 contest, but they would struggle to finish off attacks against a sturdy Ripley defense.
Less than two minutes into the game, Eastern junior Cassidy Staggs launched a cross-pass in front on the goal, only to be cleared by Gilkerson.
With just under 36 minutes to go in the first half, it was a shot by Eastern junior Madison Hopkins that would miss just wide of the goal.
The early attacks would later pay off for the Lady Warriors, and it was an assist by Staggs for a header goal by sophomore Morgan Reynolds that put Eastern on top 1-0 with 34:25 to go in the first half.
A save by Eastern’s junior goalkeeper Katie Hoover early in the first half prevented the Lady Jays from tying the game, while on the other end it was Ripley’s sophomore goalie Cailey Kirk grabbing some nice saves to prevent the Lady Warriors from expanding on their lead.
A diving save by Kirk stopped Reynolds from scoring her second goal of the game with the clock closing in on the 18-minute mark in the first half.
Carrizalez would take the final shot of the first half, a shot that was saved by Hoover.
At the end of the first half, it was Eastern leading 1-0.
With 31:01 to go in the second half, it was a goal by Carrizalez that tied the game at one apiece.
Defense prevailed on both ends of the field for the remainder of the second half, as both teams failed to score another goal.
Whitt, Gilkerson, junior Kursten Prater, and Fisher worked to clear Eastern attacks throughout the second half, while Kirk and Hoover displayed their talents as goalkeepers while coming through with excellent saves.
The No. 12 seed Lady Jays, 5-6-1 at the time of the tournament draw, are scheduled to face No. 13 seed Finneytown in round one of the Southwest District Division III Sectional Tournament on Oct. 18, while the Lady Warriors (No. 3 seed at 6-5-1) were scheduled to take on No. 6 seed Westfall in Southeast District Division III Sectional Tournament play on Oct. 18.