Eastern’s Emma Prine (right) makes her way past a Bethel-Tate defender during the Lady Warriors’ Sept. 10 win.
The Eastern Lady Warriors upped their overall record to 6-2 with their Sept. 10 non-league win over the visiting Bethel-Tate Lady Tigers, and they captured their seventh win of the season on Saturday with a narrow 3-2 victory over the Goshen Lady Warriors.
Backed by a sturdy defense and some aggressive offensive attacks, the Lady Warriors managed to shut out the Bethel-Tate Lady Tigers for a 6-0 victory.
Eastern’s first goal of the day came with 27:44 to go in the first half, as a shot junior Mary Litzinger found the back of the net to give the Lady Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Less than four minutes later, Litzinger fired for her second goal of the game to widen the margin to 2-0.
With the clock closing in on the midway point in the first half, Eastern sophomore Rylee Leonard got in on the scoring action, shooting for the Lady Warriors’ third goal of the game.
On the other end of the field, the Lady Warrior defense refused to give up a goal with sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Perkins coming through with some gutsy saves and senior sweeper Caitlyn Wills stifling a number of Lady Tiger attacks.
The Lady Warriors held a 4-0 lead at halftime after Eastern freshman Madison Gould came through with a goal with just over a minute remaining in the first half.
The Lady Warriors certainly kept Bethel-Tate defenders on their toes in the Sept. 10 match between teams from neighboring athletic conferences. After aiding the Lady Warriors on the defensive end in the first half, Wills was moved to offense in the second half, and it didn’t take long for her to help the Lady Warriors expand on their lead.
Less than eight minutes into the second half, Wills fired for a goal to lift the Lady Warriors to a 5-0 advantage.
The Lady Tigers didn’t let up, but their scoring efforts continued to be unsuccessful against the Eastern defense.
A diving save by Alyssa Perkins prevented a Bethel goal with 22:19 to go in the match, and the less than two minutes later it was an assist by Litzinger for a goal by junior Emma Prine that left the Lady Tigers trailing 6-0.
The Lady Warriors were back in action on Saturday, pulling out a 3-2 non-league win over the Goshen Lady Warriors to up their overall record to 7-2.
Eastern’s third-year head coach Dan Silvis credited Saturday’s win to the hard work his Lady Warriors have put in on the field.
“I have a great group of kids that work hard. I don’t sub a whole lot. We don’t go real deep. I think we might have played 14 players today,” said Silvis.
After a scoreless first half, it was Prine scoring two goals and Litzinger scoring one goal in the second half to bring the Lady Warriors their seventh win of the season.
On the defensive end, it was another great performance by sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Perkins, whose older sister Karleigh Perkins (senior) was originally Eastern’s starting goalkeeper this season but suffered an injury.
“She’s a sophomore, and this is her second full game,” Silvis said of sophomore goalkeeper, Alyssa Perkins. “Her sister (Karleigh) was our goalkeeper. Alyssa’s been doing some keeper training with her older sister. We don’t have anybody else. She stepped up. She has potential. She has good hands, her decision making back there is kind of iffy, but two games into her keeper career…”
On offense, this year’s Lady Warriors are packed with capable, yet unselfish, scorers.
“We like to spread the ball around and give everybody a chance to score,” said Silvis.
The Lady Warriors held a 4-0 record in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play as of Sept. 15 and they are scheduled to host the Fayetteville-Perry Lady Rockets for an SHAC match on Monday, Sept. 21.
In recent SHAC matches, the Lady Warriors outscored Peebles 10-0 and West Union 11-1.
