New to Lamar School and used to playing striker, Lady Raiders freshman Bayleigh Brent decided she wanted to try her hand at keeper.

The Lady Raiders are probably happy she did, as Brent’s play Thursday afternoon helped secure a 2-0 win against Presbyterian Christian School in MAIS Class AAAA girls soccer action. Brent made several crucial blocks as Ambreah Waters and Ali Rowland were able to pace Lamar with one goal apiece.

Lamar head coach Leon Powell had high praise for his keeper, who never seemed to let the pressure of preserving a shutout get to her throughout the course of the game.

“She’s new to the school this year, and she’s been playing for me at my club as a striker,” Powell explained. “She came in and wanted to be a keeper, and she’s just been working her butt off at that position. She deserves (the praise). She came up big today, and I hope she continues to come up big every game.”

Waters said she’s always been a backup keeper, so she wanted to see if she could stick at the position as a starter when she arrived at Lamar. Still, her instincts as a striker sometimes make her want to do more than just sit in the goal, Brent admitted.

“Goalie is fun to me,” Brent said. “I like diving and catching the ball. Striker is fun for me, too. Whenever I’m in the goal and really bored back there, I want to go up and score goals — but when I’m at striker, I’m like, ‘Oh, I need to be back there.’”

The game remained scoreless until the 22nd minute, when Waters was able to run past the PCS defense and score on a breakaway to make it 1-0 Lamar. The Lady Raiders rode that lead into the break. In the second half, Lamar was able to stave off several shots on goal by PCS before a series of passes gave Rowland a good look in the game’s waning minutes. She shot the ball, it found the back of the net, and the Lady Raiders went up 2-0, which was more than PCS could overcome with just minutes left in regulation.

Whether it was Waters’ breakaway or Rowland’s well-set-up shot, Powell said watching both scoring plays put a smile on his face.

“This is stuff that we work on, stuff that we practice, and I enjoy seeing it happen,” Powell said. “It gives me good, sweet dreams going to bed.”

Brent watched the second goal unfold from afar, and she said it was a sigh of relief after having to help keep the score 1-0 for so long.

“Every shot we took, I was like…” Brent began before sighing heavily twice. “When that shot happened and we made it, I was very excited. I kind of jumped in the air, because it means we’re up (by two).”

While every save she made was huge given how low the score was, Brent said she followed good advice from Powell in order to keep the moment from being too big.

“I remember what my coach says, to just take deep breaths, and when it’s coming, do what you have to do to protect the goal,” Brent said.

The Lady Raiders are now 4-0 on the season, and Powell said he was glad his girls got to play a team the caliber of PCS and hoped for more of those types of opponents in the future.

“It was a good game,” Powell said. “PCS is a good team, and I wish we were playing this type of competition every day so we can stay up to that (level of) play, because we’ll play this game, stay up to that play, then we go beat the next team 10-0. It’s like, we get a challenge, then we don’t get a challenge, so it’s kind of up to the girls to come out and be competitive every day. PCS gave us good competition, and I enjoyed it.”

Lamar will host Jackson Academy next Tuesday.