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WEB EXCLUSIVE: Setting the stage: Lady Wolves off to fast start in quest for elusive district title
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
The Plano West girls soccer team has won two Class 5A State Championships since 2007, so it would be natural to assume district championships are old hat for the Lady Wolves.
But that isn't necessarily the case.
In fact, West hasn't won a district title since ... well, that's a complicated question to answer.
"Man, I'm not sure how long it's been," added Carley Phillips, current West head coach. "But I know it's been a while, so that is definitely a goal of ours."
The Lady Wolves (4-0-0) have taken big strides to reach that goal early in District 10-5A play as the No. 2 team in the nation, according to Elite Soccer Report, defeated the second-, third- and fourth-place teams in their first three games.
"I think our preparation leading into district was strong," Phillips said, "and we have just continued what we've been doing."
Strong is a good way to describe West's defense.
With returning seniors Taylor Jackson, Sparky Fischer, Midori Rinkliff and new-to-the-backline junior Jalynn Barron in front of senior goalkeeper Claire Wheatley, the Lady Wolves didn't allow a goal in district wins over McKinney Boyd (1-0), Allen (4-0) and McKinney (1-0).
"Defense has definitely been a strong suit for us," Phillips said. "Which makes sense since three of the four have been playing together for a long time and then the addition of Jalynn has helped by giving us some different looks."
The defense has proved adept at getting the offense going as well with Fischer scoring the lone goal in West's Feb. 12 win against No. 11 Boyd and Jackson scoring one of the team's four goals (along with senior Brooke Ramsier, junior Tori Gates and sophomore Ashley Smith) in a Feb. 15 victory over Allen.
"We had produced many shutouts this season," said Kevin Albury, Allen head coach, "but West put us under pressure early and was worthy of the win."
The offense was significantly harder to come by Tuesday versus McKinney.
"Yeah, we had plenty of chances," Phillips said, "but it took us all of about 79:30 to capitalize."
With 30 seconds remaining in a scoreless game, Gates turned a defender around in the box and fired a shot that hit the post and rolled across the face of the goal. Just before it could reach the other post, senior Casie Ramsier swooped through to punch it in.
"It was very exciting," Phillips said. "The girls were cheering and going crazy."
That wasn't the only late second-half goal score in 10-5A Tuesday night as Plano Senior senior Kathryn Danhauser registered the equalizer with 12 minutes remaining versus Plano East for a 1-1 draw.
"Plano had been in the attacking third for a considerable amount of time," said Eric Smith, East head coach.
The tie marked the first points in district for both East and Plano (0-3-1).
"It was good to get a point," Smith said, "but of course we would've liked to hold them off for a little bit longer and get those two points."
Tuesday marked the third straight district game in which East gave up a single goal, losing to Allen, 1-0, Feb. 12 and dropping a decision by the same count Feb. 15 to McKinney.
"I can't really fault our defense," Smith said. "[Senior goalie Alexis Alba] and the whole defense have been doing a good job keeping us in games, our problem has been putting the ball in the net."
East's system calls for diagonal movement while the Lady Panthers have been more front to back and side to side thus far.
Plano can relate to East's struggles as the Lady Wildcats also dropped their first two district games (1-0 Feb. 12 versus McKinney and 2-1 Feb. 15 against Boyd) by one goal. The Lady Wildcats, which lost a 2-0 decision to West on Friday night, return to the pitch when hosting Allen at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday from Clark East. The Lady Wolves and Lady Panthers, who were defeated by Boyd on Friday (3-0), face off at the same time from Kimbrough Stadium.
"There are challenges ahead for sure," Smith said, "but it's not time to panic just yet."
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