Lady Cougar Soccer season comes to an end

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By Cindy Crosby

The Colleton County Lady Cougar Soccer team recently concluded the 2022 season with a 5-12 overall finish and 0-12 in Region VII-AAAA. In their final week of the season, the Lady Cougars fell to Beaufort High School (9-0), Bluffton High School (6-1), and Hilton Head High School (6-0).

“I knew we could compete against Beaufort,” said Coach Danielle van Hulst. “I had all faith in our athletes. Because we were coming off Spring Break, we struggled. We had practice at the end of the break and Sunday before this Monday game, but had few athletes attend. We struggled throughout the game, but what this game did bring was the fire for the rest of the season.

“Amaya LaPresta started coming out of her shell and played like I have expected her to all season. LaPresta said it took one slide for her to gain her confidence when coming out one-versus-one play.”

In the road game versus Bluffton Wednesday April 27, the Lady Cougars fell 6-1 after being down 4-0 at the half. “Before the game, we had very little time to warm up,” said van Hulst. “We basically jumped off the bus and started playing. Before the game, I told the girls there were two games left in the season and asked what name or reputation they wanted to leave behind after the season, then reminded them to have fun and make Bluffton earn the win.”

In the 6-0 loss against Bluffton in the final game of the season, the Lady Cougars trailed 2-0 at the half. “The girls were playing perfectly and definitely making Hilton Head earn the game,” said van Hulst. “At half time, I told the girls to continue to go out and play like they knew how as we were still in the game and playing competitively. We were able to get a couple shots on goal and a couple crosses, but we were unable to capitalize. Late in the second half, we were tiring and fell apart. The girls went out and gave their heart the last two games of the season and I could not ask anything else of them. I want to thank the parents, Coach Reid, Coach Fitch and Coach McCaskill for helping us throughout the season.”

Colleton County Lady Cougar Soccer plans to host Futsal this summer beginning in June at the Colleton County Middle School Gymnasium and will participate in summer weightlifting.