|
Cooler heads prevailed, however, and the Lady Panthers got to work following intermission, scoring four goals en route to a 5-0 victory.
Ledford (6-2, 8-4) had a miserable first half, battling soggy, wet and cold conditions as well as a very game Yellow Jackets’ squad. Referees scolded Sam Young and Katie Ramsey, who scored the team’s first goal, for belly-aching calls and Lady Panther shots seemed to just miss their mark as Lexington, a team Ledford has put up some big scoring nights against, reveled in trailing only 1-0 after 40 minutes.
“Lexington came to play,” Ledford coach Matt Doyle said. “They always come to play and are always willing to leave it all out on the field. It’s one of the thing’s I love about playing Lexington — it doesn’t matter what the score, they are going to play soccer from whistle to whistle. In the first half, they just out-played us. They came out a little more ready. In the second half, we locked in and took off.”
Whatever was said at halftime hit home in a hurry, resulting in a totally different team taking the field. In the first minute of the second half, the Lady Panthers matched their first half total as Young took a corner kick from Ramsey three yards in front of the Yellow Jacket’s goal and slipped a shot between Cindy Jones’ legs for a 2-0 advantage.
“We came out without our focus because we beat them so bad last time,” said Young. “We were kind of goofing off because it was raining and we didn’t if we would play anyway and we just didn’t come out ready. We had our little chat at halftime and came back out in the second half ready to play.”
Lexington (1-7, 1-11) did a solid job limiting Ledford’s open-field opportunities for a while but the Lady Panther’s speed eventually took over. Sophomore Julie Baker came out in the second half like a rocket, easily out-running the Yellow Jacket defense. Five minutes into the half, Baker sprinted down the Ledford sideline, catching up with the ball some 20 yards in front of the Lexington net. Jones came out to meet her but Baker’s deke created the open space she needed to drill home the shot far post, making the score 3-0.
Young tacked on her second goal in less than 10 minutes off a perfectly run 2-on-1 break with junior Adrienne Graeub. Graeub streaked down the far sideline where she found Young shifting towards the middle. Young called for the ball and Graeub dropped a dime right to her teammate’s toe that ended up in the back of the net, giving the Lady Panthers a 4-0 lead. Curtsy Sanders rounded out the scoring with 23:49 to go with a goal off an assist from Kelsey Gilliam.
“We just got focused and realized we weren’t going to come out and just roll over them.” Young said. “We just had to come out and play our game. We were frustrated but not really worried.”
Ledford will have a much tougher game this Wednesday when the Lady Panthers host Central Davidson, a team they beat 2-0 earlier in the year. Depending on what happens in tonight’s East Davidson versus conference unbeaten Salisbury game, Ledford could enter Wednesday only a game back in the CCC race.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.