The Colleton County Lady Cougar Soccer team headed into regular season play this week, after wrapping up preseason conditioning and scrimmages. Mid-February, the Lady Cougars fell to Wade Hampton 5-0 in their first scrimmage of the season. They shutout Whale Branch High School 12-0 in a home scrimmage on February 12, then blanketed Edisto High School 10-0 on February 25 on the road.
“After several large graduating classes over the past several years, the program is in a rebuilding process,” said Coach Brian Reid. “We have seven returning players from last year’s squad, but only three were starters. This year’s team is composed of many freshmen and sophomores. Heather Dowd, Sierra Obenaus, Dorothy Dessoye and Anne Mathis Thomas are expected to play a large role in leadership and helping the younger players with understanding varsity expectations.
“The weather so far has not been our friend,” said Reid. “A large of amount of rain has been falling, causing our field to continuously retain water. This made practice very difficult. Limited practice has greatly impacted our play so far in the two early scrimmages.
“We had only one day of practice before scrimmaging Wade Hampton,” said Reid. “But the score was not our concern. Our focus was playing together and working on our defense. We had some real positives in the area of playing together and, at times, our defense was solid. We moved a lot of players into different positions throughout the match. The goal for our season is to improve every day.
“In the Whale Branch scrimmage, our goal was to improve our offensive attack, high pressure and team formation,” said Reid. “The high pressure and attacking mindset led to four goals in the first 10 minutes of the scrimmage. We were able to work on running scoring plays. We scored in the first two minutes off a corner play, which we struggled with last season. I was very pleased to see us be able to work the ball around the field.”
In the shutout win over Edisto High School, Dowd scored four goals and Obenaus had four of her own. Jasmin Williams and Kaylee Reimel each accounted for a goal. Nikki Carnesolta in goal had eight saves to hold Edisto scoreless.
“At the beginning we were a little unorganized, but after a few adjustments we were able to start passing around like the girls had been practicing,” said Assistant Coach Danielle van Hulst, who filled in for Reid. “With Edisto being a growing team, we definitely saw a couple of chances they could have capitalized on. Luckily our defense adjusted well and was communicating with one another.
“Dowd scored a beautiful header off of a corner taken by Obenaus,” said van Hulst. “The day before Coach Reid had the girls running the corners at practice, so when I told him, I think he was just as excited as I was. It’s great to see what we practice come alive on the field. I hope the girls can continue to put the effort in and the communication on and off the field. When teams communicate better, they work better.”
The Colleton County Lady Cougar Soccer team held its annual alumni game Saturday Feb. 15 at Cougar Stadium.
“It was great to have so many former players come back for this wonderful event,” said Coach Brian Reid. “Each year we look forward to having an alumni game. Our goal with the alumni game is to bridge the gap from past players to the new team members. The game is not just about fundraising. This year’s game took on a new twist with several former players having family members now playing for CCHS. It was great to see them battle each other throughout the game. The alumni took home the bragging rights this year. We look forward to next year’s alumni game and hope for even more former players to come back and play.”
-
