Wendy Haun
BEREA — For a moment, it seemed that Pikeville senior goalkeeper Caitlin Collier forgot she was playing soccer against Madison Southern and not volleyball.
On a shot on goal by Shannon Bilby, Collier’s attempt at a save bounced off her fingertips and backwards into the goal to give the Lady Eagles an advantage they would never relinquish as they topped the Lady Panthers, 6-3, Monday in Berea. The goal from Bilby was out-of-character for the sophomore forward, Southern coach Katy Cress said.
“It was a great effort from Shannon,” Cress said. “She always gives me everything she’s got. She’s definitely a team player. Most of the time, she’s looking for the pass rather than the shot, but tonight, she got the shot.”
Less than five minutes into the game, sophomore midfielder Dakota McNeir-ney connected off of a corner kick by senior midfielder Kelsey Merritt to give the Lady Eagles (8-2-2) a 1-0 advantage. With 34:32 left in the first half, Pikeville sophomore center midfielder Kathleen Smith got a feed from junior forward Ashley Underwood and put it past Lady Eagle junior goalkeeper Kelsie Shumaker.
“We didn’t let down,” Cress said. “You can’t get your head down when the other team scores one goal because you have to expect that the other team will score at some point.”
The botched save by Collier was Bilby’s first goal, coming at the 19:23 mark. Bilby found the back of the net again with 17:02 left in the first half off an assist by sophomore forward Kim Robinson, who fed the ball from the left wing to Bilby, who was waiting in front of the goal.
The final score of the half came with 14:20 left, when Merritt got a goal of her own off an assist by senior midfielder Liz Hogwood. Hogwood was able to put one in the back of the net after struggling slightly in the first half. Hogwood broke through a double-team on her breakaway goal with 34:14 left in the game.
“I thought Liz played well in the middle,” Cress said. “She had three or four where she just killed the ball right in front of the net and they could have been nice, in the back of the net shots. But that happens to the best of us.”
However, the Lady Panthers wouldn’t go away. Smith put another one past Shumaker with 9:28 left. Senior forward Tara Bilby put some space between the Lady Eagles and Pikeville with 7:48 left in the game on a goal off of a keeper block on a Merritt shot. That score put Southern up 6-2.
Shumaker only gave up one more goal, when senior forward Mollie Dawahare let a shot loose that got under the Lady Eagle goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Cress said the difference between her team now, and her team when they lost 6-2 to South Laurel and 3-2 to Madison Central recently, is remarkable.
“The last two games, we’ve had a complete turnaround,” she said. “We look 100 percent better than we did (in our only two losses of the season). I’m very pleased with our effort. Our intensity has been up and I can’t ask for them to pass the ball any better than they did Monday.”
Madison Southern will have Senior Night at 7 p.m. tonight, when Mercer County visits Berea. It will be the Lady Eagles’ final game of the regular season.
“Senior Night’s always a big game for us,” Cress said. “Hopefully, it will be the culminating factor of what we’ve been working for leading into districts.”
