CCMS soccer player Jayda Wright prepares to hit a corner kick which results in a goal on Saturday
Fighting a battle that extends beyond the soccer pitch, the CCMS Lady Raider soccer team hosted their annual “Kickin Cancer PlayDay” on Saturday. The event serves as a final tune up for the regular season for the young Lady Raider squad. It also serves as a fund raising and awareness raising event for everyone involved as a portion of the proceeds is donated to the Middle Tennessee Breast Cancer Coalition.
Donning pink jerseys and using a pink ball, the Lady Raiders battled their way to a 2 and 0 record on the day with wins over North Franklin and DeKalb County. The JV Lady Raiders lost a 2 to 0 decision to DeKalb County before fighting to a 1 to 1 draw with Algood. Ellie Fann had the lone JV goal on the day. “We definitely got better today” said CCMS coach Travis O’Kelley.
The Lady Raiders started off slow in their opening match against North in the 30 minute, running clock match. Coffee County’s defense was superb shutting out the Lady Gators until Arianna Hansen and Marley Perry could each find the back of the net to give the Lady Raiders a 2 to 0 win.
In their second match, it was another slow start for the Lady Raiders before a corner kick from Marley Perry almost bent its way into the net in the 18th minute. That near miss seemed to awaken the Lady Raider attack as they spent the entire final 12 minutes of the match in the Coffee County defensive end. Coffee Middle racked up 4 goals in the final 10 minutes for the 4 to 0 win. The Lady Raiders powered up 12 shots while the Lady Raider defense prevented keeper Lucy Riddle from seeing a shot from DeKalb.
Katie Cotton began the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 20 minute. Perry added a goal on a beautiful corner kick feed from Jayda Wright in the 24th minute. Anna Amado added the 3rd goal, unassisted, in the 25th minute before Wright added a goal on a penalty kick in the 29th minute.
Coach O’Kelley was proud of his young Lady Raiders calling out their “patience and passing” as bright spots on the day. “I felt like our decision making was much improved” added O’Kelley. Coffee County opens the regular season on Thursday in McMinnville as they take on Warren County. O’Kelley says that he wants to fine tune some things this week in preparation for the season opener. “We will need to increase our speed to the ball and work on finishing shots” said O’Kelley. The match with Warren County kicks off at 5 PM.
