Pre-Season Tourny Good To Spartans
Xenia, OH (July 10, 2004) This past weekend sent a heat wave to the area Where the Valley View girl's soccer team not only had to deal with the heat, but also brought on some heat of their own in the Miami Valley Pre-Season Tournament in Xenia, OH.
The team was scheduled to begin early, (7 a.m.) but were met with a 30-minute lightning delay when the arrived at the field. Once the game began the Spartans took advantage of the cooler morning and put a 3-0 shutout on Cincinnati Mother of Mercy.
Alexis Pol came on strong all weekend for the Spartans as she scored a total of four goals, two during the first game.
"She's working pretty hard. She played on JV last year but did see some time in varsity games," Coach Jeff Stiver said.
In game number one Christie Jones assisted on one goal. The third Valley View goal was scored by Rachael Day.
The second game began at 12:15 as a result of the earlier delay. The girls drove themselves through the heat to tie Indian Hill 2-2.
Indian Hill scored in the final eight minutes of the first half to take the a 1-0 lead. When the girls took the field in the second half, Pol immediately knocked the ball to the back of the net to knot the score.
The game continued on with possession bouncing back and forth when with less than 14 minutes remaining Indian Hill took advantage of the Spartans wide-spread defensive front line and scored another goal.
Shots were looking slim for the Spartans, until Sam Buehner knocked one in just before time ran out.
"Indian Hill has a strong team and the girls stuck in there for a tie," Stiver said.
Following that game, the girls went up against Centerville's freshman team. Pol knocked both goals in for the Spartans, helping themselves to a 3-0-1 day.
The girls returned on Sunday to play Tipp City. The game became intense when the girls went into a shoot-out. The Spartans pulled out ahead, shooting a 4-2 victory.
"Tipp City had an excellent team, like Indian Hill, and the girls did really well," Stiver said.
The final game of the tournament was played against a strong Carroll team where the Spartans fell, 2-0.
"They are excellent, excellent opponents. I think for all the adversity, we were a little beat up and didn't have many subs, so the girls tired easily. We did well. Some of the girls were playing hurt too. Carroll was a better team, but you know we gave a valiant effort and the girls played hard. They never gave up. It's just that Carroll has one of the best teams around," Stiver commented.
"The girls did a lot of good things. They were just tired and I think a lot of them were ready to go home," Stiver added.
Looking back at the tournament Stiver is pleased with how the girls performed, especially considering all the circumstances.
"We beat the teams we should've beaten. We should've beat Cincinnati and Centerville, because it was their freshman team, and we did," Stiver said.
"The other teams were tough teams and to only lose the final game 2-0 was good. We had an excellent weekend and got a lot of coaching in. We were able to see some of the younger kids play as well," Stiver noted.
Throughout the tournament the Spartans struggled with health and Stiver just hopes that by next weekend some of the girls are healed.
"In the first three minutes of the first game, Lauren Clay was injured. Rachael Day hurt her foot and Allison Markus was limited. There were a lot of girls hurting this weekend and some of our regular players couldn't attend the tourney," Stiver mentioned.
Brittany Kramer helped watch the goal for the Spartans this weekend and Stiver was proud of how she handled herself at keeper.
"Brittany is a sophomore and did a really nice job for us at keeper. She wasn't a 100% mistake free, but did really well," Stiver said.
The girls return to action this weekend as they travel to Columbus Bexley.
"It's a really nice and big tournament. Hopefully we'll sit back this week and get some kids healthy," Stiver commented.
The girls' first game begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
