Lamar girls roll past East Rankin Academy 8-0

Published 11:30 pm Thursday, September 20, 2018

Following an 8-0 win against East Rankin Academy Thursday, Lamar girls soccer coach wasn’t quite done with his players.

Lining them up along the goal line, Powell set up a series of cones to denote where the girls were to give 50-percent output and where they were to give 100-percent output during post-game shuttle drills. Even if they won convincingly, Powell wasn’t about to let his girls get complacent.

“It’s getting down to the nitty gritty now, so I have to keep them in as much shape as I can,” Powell explained.

Despite a slow offensive start for Lamar, the Lady Raiders scored three goals after the first water break to take a 3-0 lead at halftime, then added five more in the second half to take their second 8-0 win this week. Lamar topped Copiah Academy 8-0 Tuesday, and Thursday’s win improved the Lady Raiders to 3-1 in the MAIS Division II South.

“It was a district game, and we scored seven goals and had no goals (scored) against (us), so that’s good,” Powell said. “I can’t complain.”

But with the postseason just more than a week away, Powell wanted to make sure he got a little something extra out of his players. Emma Kate Uithoven, who had two goals Thursday following a three-goal performance Tuesday against Copiah, said Powell remains demanding even though the Lady Raiders still control their own destiny in the division.

“He said we’re out of shape, so we ran after Copiah, and we ran after this one, too,” Uithoven said.

While it may be tough to run when you’ve just played 80 minutes of soccer, it wouldn’t be as tough as falling short of a state title next month, Uithoven said.

“It’s about how much you want another championship,” she said. “It’ll push you in the end.”

Despite spending the first 20 minutes mostly on East Rankin’s side of the field, Lamar was unable to find the back of the net before the mandatory water break midway through the first half. Then the goals came in bunches. Uithoven scored the team’s first goal, and Alexandria Rowland added her first goal of the game several minutes later. Lydia Hutcherson scored to make it 3-0 just one minute after Rowland’s goal, and suddenly, the Lady Raiders had a three-goal lead going into the break.

“It was just a matter of time,” Powell said. “I knew (East Rankin) was going to play hard for the first 20 minutes, so I was just going to wait and see if they could play 90.”

Uithoven said it can get frustrating when the Lady Raiders don’t score early, but they never let it get them down.

“I feel like that’s been happening a lot lately,” Uithoven said. “It’s a little frustrating, but it just takes time for us to click — but when we do, I feel like we’re pretty effective.”

Rowland scored for the second time a few minutes into the second half, and Wyatt Davidson made it 5-0 Lamar with a goal just one minute after Rowland’s. Uithoven scored her second goal several minutes after Davidson, and Anna Catherine Evans rounded out the Lady Raiders’ scoring with two goals in the game’s final 20 minutes.

Lamar will host Copiah Academy Monday before a key showdown with Hartfield Academy next Thursday. The Lady Raiders fell to Hartfield Academy 1-0 on Aug. 25, so if Lamar wins both games next week, the division will come down to goal differential.