SHS vs. Kingwood 1/9/24

Stratford traveled to Kingwood High School for a pre-season game on Tuesday, January 9th. KHS got off to a fast start in the first 5 minutes with an offensive attack, but our defense pulled a great offsides trap. KHS quickly attempted another attack, but Trysta Truong sacrificed her body to stop them. SHS had good movement between Nicole Abbey, Maddie Verrett, and Kaija Sola, but KHS disrupted the passing and laid it back to their goalie. Offensive pressure from Verrett forced the KHS goalie to kick it out of bounds. Nine minutes in, Julia Wolf won the ball and fed it to Sola, who laid it to Elizabeth Byrd and back to Sola, who took a shot on goal, but it was saved by the KHS goalkeeper. A minute later, Abbey stole the ball from their defense. She beat 2 players before taking a shot, but their goalie came up with another save. At 21:16 left, our goalie, Sophia Shulz, had a nice goal kick, but the KHS midfield was first to the ball, sending it forward to their offense. But Lily Terveen ran it down and had a nice clearance to Byrd. A couple of minutes later, a clearance by Wolf off of a corner reached Abbey, who dribbled almost the length of the field, but it went out of bounds. On the other end, a quick corner by KHS gave them an open shot on goal, but Shulz made a nice save. KHS won the ball back and sent a through ball that Terveen chased down. Morgan Long did a nice job covering in the middle of our box,  so she was able to clear it to Ella Bui, who laid it to Byrd, then back to Bui. After a little more work, we got a cross off, but we just couldn’t get a Stratford body on it before Kingwood cleared it out. With 9 minutes left, SHS's Truong did a nice move that faked out the defender, then she laid the ball into the middle to Sola, who played it to Maddison Gallerano, but KHS was able to clear it out of bounds. Eight minutes left in the half, a Kingwood player drilled past our defense and took a nice shot with a fantastic save by our goalkeeper Shulz. A lot of of back-and-forth movement in the last few minutes did not result in a goal for either team, leaving the 1st half score 0-0.

To start off the 2nd half, our goalkeeper Sarah Fadhli came out and snagged a through ball. Fadhli found Bui in the middle and rolled it to her feet with a nice pass to Byrd, who laid a great through ball to Abbey. KHS was able to eventually step in and clear it. At 31:25,  Kingwood started attacking, but Claire Lamon had a great block to get it out. KHS recovered it and sent a nice cross, but Meredith Cunningham was marked up nicely on the backside, so it went out for a goal kick. A blocked through ball by Cunningham landed at Truong’s feet. Truong sent the ball to Lola Pooler, who centered to Abbey. Abbey found herself with her back to the goal and laid a nice pass back to Bui, who took a fantastic shot, but the KHS goalkeeper made a great save. At 18:08 on the clock, a through ball was run down by Terveen before she cleared it. Sylvia Castaneda kept it in, but KHS won it back. They took a shot on goal, but it was scooped up by Fadhli. Another offensive effort started with Castaneda stopping a through ball and passing to Bui, who laid a great ball to Abbey. She played it back to Bui, who tried to send a a through ball, but it was intercepted. At 13:40, a clearance from Wolf to Abbey, who had a fantastic first touch, before passing to Long, who laid it to Verrett and back to Abbey before Kingwood was able to get it out of bounds. With 10 minutes left, SHS saw good ball movement between Gallerano, Abbey, Bui, and Byrd, who couldn’t quite get the shot off before KHS cleared it. Stratford was able to gather the ball on the side and serve it back in, but we were just short of being able to get a shot on goal. Effort was made by Gallerano to Abbey, with another great first touch,  allowing her to turn and send a through ball to Bui, who had a beautiful cross, but we just couldn’t connect on the backside. With only 3 minutes left in the game, Truong took the ball down the line before KHS kicked the ball out of bounds. Verrett threw the ball in to Sola, who had a nice cross that forced their goalie to make a diving save. A quick punt to the other end, and Kingwood went screaming down the field. A tagged team defensive effort by Lamon and Terveen helped clear the ball and keep the final score at a 0-0 tie.

The SHS JV Team has one last pre-season game against Angleton High School at Stratford on Friday, January 19th. Our District games will begin on Tuesday, January 23rd. Come out and support your Lady Spartans!