Russellville girls, boys sweep Tharptown in varsity soccer action

In the Russellville derby between Russellville High School and Tharptown High School, played at Golden Tiger Stadium on Tuesday night, the hosts came away with shutout victories in both girls’ and boys’ varsity play.

In the girls’ match to start the evening, the Lady Golden Tigers played to a 2-nil win over their counterparts from down County Road 48.

The 13th minute brought the first break through for Russellville when a headed clearance by Tharptown landed in the path of senior Keyla Martinez, who smashed in a right-footed volley from 20 yards out. The Lady Golden Tigers would take the 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

Russellville closed out the scoring, making it 2-0 in the 48th minute, on another shot from outside the box. This time it was junior Maricela Andres, who latched on to a through ball, outpaced two defenders, and finished with a shot over the Tharptown keeper into the far corner.

For the next 22 minutes and change, Russellville’s defense kept Tharptown out to record the clean sheet.

The Lady Golden Tigers improved to 3-2 with the win. THS fell to 1-5.

The proceeding boys’ game saw Russellville’s boys put four past Tharptown, ranked No. 6 in the Class 1A-3A coaches’ poll, to win 4-0.

Russellville’s first goal came early, just over a minute into the contest, when a Tharptown headed clearance away from goal landed at the feet of sophomore Jose Tristan who hit a right-footed volley from 20 yards out into the left side of Tharptown’s goal.

German Perez scored the Golden Tigers’ second goal of the night in the 12th minute of the match. Taking advantage of an ill-advised back heel pass by a Tharptown defender, the junior lined up his shot from 25 yards out and curled into into the top left corner of goal.

The Golden Tigers would take the 2-nil advantage into the second half.

A third Russellville goal came in the 52nd minute. An initial Erik Jacinto shot forced Tharptown goalkeeper into a fantastic save, but the Wildcats couldn’t clear it out of the box and sophomore Roman Machic was able to pounce on the rebound and sneak the ball into the back of the net.

The last goal of the night came in the 57th minute on a penalty kick. A Tharptown handball foul at the edge of the box sent Tristan to the penalty spot; the sophomore cooly slotted his PK shot past the Wildcat GK, who guessed the wrong way, into the bottom left corner to grab the brace.

The victory improved Russellville to 9-3 on the year. Tharptown dropped to 5-2 with the loss.