SHS vs. Cy Ridge 2/6/24

On February 6th, the Lady Spartans traveled to Cypress Ridge High School for their 5th District game. The first play of the game all the Stratford players touched the ball to move it up the field. A corner by Ella Bui floated in to Elizabeth Byrd, whose shot bounced off a defender and was kicked in by a crashing Kaija Sola for a nice finish. SHS 1 - CRHS 0. At 19 minutes, Trysta Truong passed to Sola, who spun around a defender and slipped it in past the goalkeeper for another goal, making it SHS 2 - CRHS 0. Just two minutes later, the ball was back out wide with Truong, who played a nice ball to Lola Pooler, who then crossed the ball to a running Meredith Cunningham, who pounded it into the back of the net to change the scoreboard to SHS 3 - CRHS 0. Morgan Long threw the ball in to Lily Terveen, who dribbled all the way to the endline before laying it back to Truong. She had a nice cross with a fabulous header finish by Nicole Abbey with 5 minutes left in the first half. SHS 4 - CRHS 0. Abbey fought off a defender before she did a give-and-go with Cate Shofner. Abbey then crossed to Bella Saavedra, who took a great touch before cranking it into the back of the net to score our fifth goal. SHS 5 - CRHS 0. Stratford maintained possession of the ball and played keep-away until the end of the half.

The second half began with a lot of passing between all SHS players. There was about 5 minutes where CRHS didn't even touch the ball because our passing was so good. At 26:44, Katherine Fowler intercepted a throw-in by CRHS. She laid the ball to Sola, who played it to Shofner out wide, who then crossed to Terveen in the middle of the box. She took a great first touch and quickly put it in the back of the net. SHS 6 - CRHS 0. Two minutes later, Terveen took a corner kick that Maddison Gallerano trapped and took a shot. The ball bounced off CRHS defenders and landed at the feet of Sola, who shot and scored. SHS 7 - CRHS 0. After about 20 minutes of continuous passing between the Lady Spartans, Truong took a corner kick that reached Sylvia Castenda and then Amrylin Duhon, who both made a couple of scoring attempts that were all blocked by CRHS defenders, but eventually the ball landed at the feet of Byrd, who made the final goal of the game. SHS 8 - CRHS 0.

SHS vs. Memorial 2/9/24

The SHS Lady Spartans played the highly anticipated game vs. Memorial at Stratford on Friday, February 9th. The crowd was packed and the girls were hyped up! The game lived up to everyone's expectations with a ton of back-and-forth and a very evenly matched game. Both teams took turns possessing the ball and trying to attack. Stratford's first big attempt on goal came 25 minutes into the game. The ball was in the middle of the field where Morgan Long and Madison Gallerano battled against the MHS midfielders. Long popped out with the ball and laid a nice ball to Kaija Sola, who beat her defender. Sola sprinted toward the goal and was able to lay the ball toward the middle of the field. Nicole Abbey came screaming in, but the goalie was able to beat her to the ball by a split second in order to clear the ball out.  At 18 minutes left in the half, a throw-in by Camille Warren sailed into the middle of the box. The clearance by MHS landed at Trysta Truong's feet. She battled a defender down toward the end line before she cut it back to take a shot on the goal that was deflected just wide. A corner kick taken by Elizabeth Byrd landed beautifully in the middle of the box. After ricocheting off of 3 MHS defenders, Sola came crashing in, but her shot sailed over the crossbar. With about 5 minutes left, MHS saw their own chance off of a free kick at the 20 yard line. It was a perfectly placed ball headed toward the upper 90 but SHS goalie, Sophia Schulz, got a finger on it to make it hit the crossbar before it bounced straight down and then out away from the goal, followed by a big clearance from Lily Terveen to ensure they didn't get another shot off. In the final minutes of the first half, the girls launched one final attack. Sola moved the ball down the right side of the field before laying it back to Juliana Molinas. She took a touch and launched her shot, but it was deflected wide for a corner. The corner was taken by Truong, who once again laid the ball beautifully into the middle of the box. Sola got a head on it, but it went high in the air to the back post. Sola ran it down and tried to volley it back toward the goal, but it hit the top crossbar and went over. The first half ended in a 0-0 score.

The second half proved to be more of the same. Fierce competition and a lot of chances for both sides. In the first 10 minutes, MHS struck with a couple of crosses from 15 yards out to the back post. Their forward was able to get a head on it both times, but each time it thankfully sailed over or wide of the goal. In the next 10 minutes,  our girls made some runs at the goal but nothing really could develop. At about 16 minutes left, MHS once again gave it an effort. The ball ended up at one of the MHS forward's feet, about 15 yards out, where she took a shot that hit the post. Finally, with 8 minutes left, SHS saw their first great opportunity. Truong won the goal kick taken by the MHS goalie and then beat a defender before firing off a shot at the goal. Unfortunately, the goalie was ready and made a great save. 5 minutes later, SHS put on another attack. Molinas battled with her defender forcing the defender to miss kick her clearance, which went in the middle of the field. It hit off a MHS defender and landed at the feet of Abbey, who had a great one-touch shot. Once again the goalie was ready and scooped it up for the save. The girls kept pressing and working so hard but as the clock clicked down to :40 seconds, it appeared that the game might end in a tie. But one last effort proved to be all the girls needed. Claire Lamon sent the ball deep into the MHS defensive half with a beautiful clearance. The MHS defense tried to clear the ball out of the back. It came bouncing out to Byrd, who launched the ball toward the goal about 30 feet in the air. It sailed over the defender's head, so the goalie came running out to try and save it just as Sola came flying in. She timed her jump perfectly to head the ball just over the goalie's hands to score with :30 seconds left. The crowd went wild and the girls celebrated it big! A few final seconds of strong defense helped us hold on to the lead, allowing the SHS JV girls to defeat the Ponies 1-0 in epic fashion.

The Stratford Lady Spartans JV Team will end their first round of District play on Tuesday, February 13th vs. Jersey Village at JVHS. Then they will start round 2 of District on Friday, February 16th vs. Cy Fair at Stratford High School at 5:30 pm. Come out and support your Lady Spartans as they start round 2 of District with a record of 6-0.