Photo: SoBoCo’s Sarah Johnson moves the ball upfield during last Friday’s scrimmage against Father Tolton. The Eagles open the season at Lebanon this weekend. The Eagles are the defending District champions.

The Eagles girls soccer team re-gained a district title last spring, then lost several key members of that 23-2-1 team to graduation.

But SoBoCo open the season this weekend at the Lebanon Tournament with untested players – but very athletic players.

On Friday the Eagles tied Tolton 0-0, outscored Mexico 1-0 on a direct kick from senior Kate Ponder and topped Fulton 2-0 on goals from Surrey Prince and Kate Ponder.

“It was the first time we had played the full field (after two weeks of practice) and the first time we had put it all together,” said Eagles head coach Chris Miller. “There were some bumps, but it went pretty well. We had some players who had never even played at this level before.”

Some of those players include All District basketball player Carrie Ponder, who played in her first high school soccer game and won some praise from Miller. “She played the first three balls to her perfectly,” Miller said. “She made some mistakes later, but nothing we can’t fix.”

Miller also complimented a group of athletic freshmen and his new defense.

“That’s been our focal point,” Miller said of his defense. “We lost an important core of players on defense, but the girls we had back there have done this before, so they didn’t look as bad as it could have.”

While Miller notes that the defense made some mistakes, the Eagles didn’t allow a goal in three 25-minute scrimmages. Defenders Reganne Scheer, Lauren Gateley, Ellie Lacy and Carrie Ponder kept the ball in front of them and allowed Tolton, in the first scrimmage, to make their own mistakes in order to break down attacks.

~ Find out more in today’s Journal ~

By Bruce Wallace