GREENBRIER The Greenbrier girls soccer team may have had more in common with Davidson Academy than either team knew coming into Thursday’s match.
Baleigh Adcock fights for possession of the ball with Grace Spain.
Neither team had an offseason program, in fact, neither team has worked with their team for more than a month, so both are behind where they should be right now in every aspect of the game.
Davidson Academy came into Thursday’s match winless on the season, but the Lady Bears got an early goal on a penalty kick and then added another minutes later to go on to the 2-0 victory over Greenbrier, so what did we learn about these two teams?
Here’s five things that coaches from each team had to say after the match.
1 – Davidson Academy’s seniors are leading the way. Lady Bears senior Davis Smith scored both of their goals Thursday night. That brought her total to three goals in the last four days.
2 – The Lady Bears showed they could overcome adversity. Thursday’s game with Greenbrier was their fourth in as many days. Until the win at Greenbrier Thursday they hadn’t won a single game during that stretch, but they’ve only been playing together as a team for two weeks.
3 – A week before the start of the season, Greenbrier didn’t even have enough players to start a game. The Lady Bobcats only had 10 players until just two days before their first game. First-year head coach Stacey Stafford began to recruit players in the school hallways just to get enough players to take the field.
4 – Despite the loss, Stafford says that she’s seen improvement in her team. Greenbrier still has an overall record of 3-2-2 with the loss Thursday and the biggest thing that encouraged Stafford Thursday was that the Lady Bobcats didn’t give up in the second half down two goals. She said that they actually played more aggressively in the second half and kept Davidson Academy scoreless in that half.
5 – Junior Lindsay Atrip, a two-time Robertson County Times Goalkeeper of the Year, has led by example even though she’s not a captain. She’s also been a vocal leader when needed according to Stafford. “She’s a perfect leader on and off the field and may very well be the most well-rounded player I’ve ever been around,” Stafford said.