Russellville soccer teams open area play with doubleheader vs. West Point
The Russellville High School varsity girls’ and boys’ soccer teams opened up area play against West Point on Feb. 22. Both squads, coming off losses in their previous games, got back to winning ways with impressive performances against the Warriors
The Golden Tiger girls opened up the evening with an emphatic 6-2 victory to improve to 2-2 on the year. Nadia Mendez scored a hat-trick against the visitors, taking her goal tally to four this season. Three other players got on the scoresheet, all with their first goals of the season.
After consecutive road defeats at Mars Hill and Florence, Russellville head coach Dalany Roberts, celebrating both the victory and her birthday, said the win felt good, but those losses did serve as valuable experience for the team leading up to Thursday’s game.
“Last week was a hard week, but it was also a week full of challenges that are going to help us grow as a program,” Roberts said. “We take every opportunity to learn from it.”
Russellville got off to a fast start against West Point and never looked back. Mendez scored the first of her goals in the third minute, and it was followed five minutes later by a goal from Maricela Andres.
Andres, who was moved up from the JV team to the varsity squad before the game, made the starting 11 and provided some additional firepower up top.
“We know our offense is where we lack,” Roberts said. “We did pull up (Andres) that we wanted on the varsity level. There were a few things that were requested of her before she made that shift and she has done her part.”
“I feel like we had a player that is a true striker and in that came that natural confidence,” Roberts added of Andres.
The goal-scoring continued in quick succession midway through the second half as Mendez scored her brace and hat-trick in the 57th and 61st minutes, assisted by Dianet Felix and Gloria Sop, respectively.
“Nadia is an excellent player, she’s an aggressive player, she’s a confident player,” Roberts said of the team’s leading goal-scorer.
The second-year Russellville coach said pairing Andres with Mendez allowed the latter’s confidence and ability to shine through on the pitch.
“(Andres) being up there with Nadia, I think they both felt confident playing with each other,” she said. “I think that helped her confidence tonight, being more of an aggressive and attacking team.”
Rounding out the scoresheet, Felix added a close-range goal to go with her assist in the 60th minute. The final Golden Tiger goal was scored in the 65th minute on a strike by Keyla Martinez from about 25 yards out.
West Point did take advantage of two defensive lapses by Russellville and scored two goals: a free header off a corner kick in the 44th minute and a mistake at the back that allowed an easy tap in in the 60th minute.
“We know there’s things we’re still not doing well. We need to open our mouths a little bit more and communicate,” Roberts said. “Tonight there were moments where plays were lost or fell apart because of lack of communication. We know those areas we need to improve on.”
The Golden Tigers were unable to keep the clean sheet, but as the final score suggests, the hosts were still dominant in every area. Russellville maintained most of the possession and dictated the tempo of the game. It’s still early in the season, but the Golden Tigers, a young team, looked like an improving team against West Point. One reason for this, Roberts said, is the players have taken on some responsibility and leadership.
“We’ve been working on a team that’s not just a coach-led team, it’s a player-led team,” she said. “They tell me things they also feel they need to work on and I try to highlight that so it’s not just the coach telling them exactly what to do and they find some ownership. Communication is one of those things…that makes a more cohesive unit and so they’re taking ownership and just naturally we’re seeing a lot of people step into that position gain more confidence. I feel that contributed a lot to (the result) tonight.”
The Golden Tigers have also made concerted efforts at team bonding and, Roberts said, they’ve just been putting in a lot of hard work.
“We had, you know, a lot of new players brought up from the JV team, a huge shift from our JV team to our varsity team, and with that you have to learn each other and create that chemistry. It has to be an effort,” Roberts said. “We’ve been working on our team bonding, the girls have been communicating on and off the field more. We’re out here Saturday mornings. Obviously with more time together that creates more chemistry just naturally.”
“We’re hungry. We’re hungry for this year, we’re hungry for area and so we’re doing what it takes. Whether it’s 5 a.m. Saturday practices, practices in the rain, it doesn’t matter. We’ve been out here and the girls have been putting in the work,” she added.
The Russellville varsity boys kicked off against West Point following the conclusion of the girls’ game. The Golden Tigers, coming off a 3-1 home loss to Florence on Feb. 20, were looking to rebound from what was a physical match against Class 7A’s third-ranked team.
Russellville head coach Trey Stanford summed up the game against Florence with one word:
“Intense. Just an intense game,” Stanford said. “It always is, no matter what.”
Russellville vs. Florence was not short on action or drama. In addition to the four goals, one of which was scored on a penalty kick, over 30 shots were taken between the two teams and Florence had one player sent off on a red card, playing the final 20 minutes down a man.
The scoring opened in the 36th minute when a cutback pass into the box found Florence’s Colton Swift, who slotted his shot into the bottom right corner of the Russellville net. The goal came just moments after a near-disaster at the back by the Golden Tigers. Goalkeeper Miguel Andres, forced into a desperation clearance to avoid an own goal, knocked the ball right into the path of an attacking Falcon who, with an open goal in front of him, sent the ball wide of the mark.
Even with all that, the biggest disappointment for Russellville was that the Florence goal really came against the run of play, in a period of the game the Golden Tigers were dominating. After Florence controlled possession early and had a few great scoring opportunities–Russellville needed two diving saves and some help from the woodwork in the first 10 minutes–the Golden Tigers eventually began to assert themselves and settled into the game as it neared halftime.
“(Florence) played us pretty great, pretty hard, had great opportunities right out of the gate. Our keeper played good the first 20 minutes to keep us in this game,” Stanford said. “We made adjustments and moved a few guys around and I thought we played a lot better the last 20 minutes (before halftime).”
In the second half, Russellville continued where it left off and kept the pressure on the Falcons. The breakthrough finally came in the 53rd minute when Hailezgy Tekle, in a moment of individual brilliance, dribbled around multiple Florence defenders and put enough power behind his shot to beat the opposing goalkeeper from about 20 yards out.
“He was close all night (to scoring),” Stanford said of Tekle. “I think it’s going to be tough for anybody in our region to contend with him this year. He’s going to be a good one.”
Tekle spent most of the game as the Golden Tigers point man after coming off the bench to replace starting striker Manny Martinez, who picked up an ankle injury early in the match.
Unfortunately for the Golden Tigers, the joy of leveling the game wasn’t long lived. In the 55th minute, the referee pointed to the penalty spot after a coming together at the edge of the box between an attacking Florence player and Russellville defender. Swift took possession of the ball and coolly put the penalty away for his brace.
While the vociferous Russellville fans were sure to let the referee know they disagreed with the call, postgame Stanford was more diplomatic in his assessment.
“I still don’t know what happened on that side (of the field),” he said. “It was right on the 18 (yard box) so you know it might get called somewhere and it might not. It got called tonight.”
Florence’s third and final goal, however, Stanford was more matter-of-fact about.
“We can’t let that happen,” he said.
After a Russellville turnover in its own half, Florence’s Liam Jeffery tucked away a shot that nestled into the far corner of the net and proved to put the game away for the visitors.
Florence would go down to 10 men two minutes later when Iggy Rojas was sent off on a red card, but the Falcons were happy to sit back, defend, and counterattack for the final 20 minutes. The two-goal deficit would be too much for Russellville to overcome in the end.
“I think it’s just a battle (with Florence) and it’s always been a battle no matter who’s the better team,” Stanford said. “We play them at their place later, we’ll see what happens. I think it could easily come out to be a 1-1 draw or 2-2 draw then.”
How Russellville would respond to the Florence loss when West Point came to Golden Tiger Stadium 48 hours later was a question that needed less than 10 minutes to answer.
Russellville blanked the Warriors 7-nil, scoring three goals in the opening nine minutes, to get area play off to a perfect start. Five different Golden Tigers ended up on the scoresheet of a game that saw nearly every player in black and gold make an appearance.
“It was a good win,” Stanford said. “(West Point) is a much improved team. They played hard, you know, and very, very physical, which is good for us. We need that.”
Hailezgy Tekle, who has scored in every match for the Golden Tigers, found the game’s opening goal in the fourth minute of play. Four minutes later, defender Richard Scott scored a tap in when the West Point goalkeeper was unable to punch a free kick attempt on target clear. Moments later the third goal was finessed into the Warriors net when Brian Lara, assisted by Isais Jose, chipped the ball over the goalkeeper.
“Brian is a great player who, you know, has plugged in with us the past few years,” Stanford said. “He’s fast, physical, gets after it, you know, and it was time for him to score one.”
Russellville’s quick and early lead allowed Stanford to give a lot of his players more minutes off the bench.
“We looked good the first few minutes and came out scoring. We scored three and then we subbed everybody out,” Stanford said. “Most of everybody got in and they all got good minutes. Some of the young guys got to play a lot so that’s big for us, big for them and their confidence and just growing as a player and as a group.”
The Golden Tigers took their fast 3-0 lead into the halftime break and then added four more in the final 40 minutes. Tekle, Russellville’s leading goal-scorer, recorded his brace in the 41st minute with a shot that was helped past the goalkeeper by a deflection. Then, 15 minutes later, Tekle contributed to the next goal with his cross that a West Point defender knocked into his own goal. Russellville capped the scoring with goals that came in the 72nd and 73rd minutes and were recorded by Jared Rayo and Christian Martin, respectively. Erik Jacobo was credited with the assist for his pass that set up the last goal of the evening.
The win against West Point improves Russellville’s record to 2-1 and sets the Golden Tigers on a good foundation in a much-improved area, according to Stanford.
“It’s going to be a tough year because there are four teams (in the area) drastically improved,” he said. “It’s a big area win but we have to keep playing well.”
The Russellville girls’ soccer team will play its next match at area rival Lawrence County on Feb. 26. The Russellville boys’ team will compete in a Florence-hosted tournament on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 before traveling to Lawrence County for its next area game Feb. 26.