Stratford vs. Klein Cane High School – 01.10.23

Your Spartans Girls Soccer team was back at home this week on a cool, crisp Tuesday night to face the Hurricanes of Klein Cane High School (the #14th ranked school in 6A-Region 2). Although the Lady Spartans were still missing a few starters, the girls came out firing, and 10 minutes into the game, Senior Kristin Geczik lined up to take a corner kick from the northwest corner of the stadium, making sure to land the ball right out in front of the goal, where Sophomore Whitney Bui was waiting with a quick heel-flick to redirect the ball right past the goalie’s outreached glove and to get your Spartans on the board, 1-0. They had two more corner opportunities over the next ten minutes but couldn’t convert. However, on a third attempt, 19 minutes into the match, it was Geczik again with a picture-perfect shot off a corner kick to mid goal, where this time it was Senior Lauren Ahearn waiting for her shot to get to increase the lead, which she did to take SHS to a 2-0 lead at halftime.

As the temperature continued to drop and the teams retook the field for the second half, it didn’t take very long for Stratford to position itself to increase the lead even more. At the 40’ mark, it was once again Geczik with the ball at the top of the Hurricanes' box. She was able to dribble all the way down to the end line and make a move that literally put the defender on her back before making a very nice cross in front of the goal, where Senior Elle Howell was waiting to fire it in the back of the net and to increase the lead to three goals to none. Even after this third score, the Lady Spartans had no thoughts of letting off the gas. Halfway through the second half, off a throw-in deep in the Klein Cane end, it was Sophomore Mary Paul who was able to direct the ball past two defenders to Sophomore Hannah Haygood, who sent the ball home to go up 4-0. With eight minutes left on the clock and the game coming to a close, it was Mary Paul’s turn to try and convert a corner kick. The lefty lined up to give her waiting teammates a chance to score and this time it was Freshmen Sara Benton who received the kick and dribbled out to the top of the box and crossed it to Freshman Sydney Valentine, who fired a 15-yard shot left-side to put Stratford up 5-0 and put an exclamation on the shutout!

Up next for the Spartans is a trip to the Georgetown Elite Invitational tournament just outside of Austin this coming weekend, where the team will face some tough competition out of the DFW area who are ranked in the top 7 in their regions, in Grapevine and Hebron.