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	Lady Knights Soccer Going To Final Four May 2, 2010 The Arab Lady Knights made history Saturday as they defeatd the Fort Payne Lady Wildcats to advance to the state semi-finals. The # 8 ranked Lady Knights handed the # 4 Lady Wildcats a 2-1 setback in a second-round Class 5A sub-state match. This will be the first time for the Lady Knights to advance to the Final Four since the program was reinstated in 2002-2003. The Lady Knights scored both their goals in the final 7 1/2 minutes after Fort Payne (9-4-2), the state runner-up a year ago, had taken a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick 15 minutes into the second half. Arab advances to the state semifinals Friday, May 7 in Huntsville at the Huntsville Soccer Complex, John Hunt Park on Airport Road (just east of South Memorial Parkway); they will play the Spanish Fort Lady Toros. Game time will be 1:00 pm. Admission cost for the semi-final games is $8. The Lady Knights, with a record of 17-4-6, are undefeated on their home field. The defeat of Albevtille in sub-state play on April 27 allowed the Knights to advance to the "Elite 8" for the third straight year. The Lady Knights have won their region for the past 5 years. After the Albertville game, coach Jason Guger said, "This year has been real tough for our team. We have had a lot of key injuries including 5 starters. However, these injuries allowed us to also show off our biggest strength, depth at every position. I knew at the beginning of the year I had about 19 players that I could play. Last night we could only dress 14 healthy players. We played a full roster from Albertville with 22 players. It would have been easy for our girls to lose the game based on strength, size, and numbers, but we did not make excuses. We had 14 girls play as hard as they could possibly play and that was enough to get us through. We did not win based on style, ability, or technique. We won with heart, desire, and toughness. It was not our best game of the year, but we just refused to lose to a very good and motivated Albertville team." Despite the injuries Guger said the team is blessed with great senior leadership and a lot of young talent. "Sadly, the injury bug started with our seniors. Lara Cleland and Lydia Latham are both 3 plus year starters at the varsity level and both are out due to injury. Our only senior playing is our Captain, Jessica Baker. She has become the heart and sole of this team. With all the injuries, she has not only become one of the best leaders I have ever seen, she also is one of the best players I have ever seen. We also are blessed with a ton of young talent. We start three 8th graders, two freshman, three sophomores, and two juniors around our solo senior." Guger described the action against Albertville: "The game started fast for us and it took a few minutes to settle in. In soccer it is pretty important to get off to a good start for confidence, but you must also understand that you have to play 80 min. Albertville was fortunate to open the scoring first. Off of a corner kick, Albertville drove a ball in front of our goal that deflected off of a defender into the net. The deflection gave our Goal keeper zero chance to make a save. You can’t really call it lucky because a player has to make it happen, but we appeared unlucky on that play. After the Albertville score, we picked up speed and aggressiveness and it did not take long at all for us to match the score. Our freshman midfielder, Mindy Edwards got great space and attacked one on one against Albertville’s senior Captain. Mindy made a great outside move and got the edge. She battled through a lot of contact and hammered the ball in side the post from about 15 yards out. Mindy’s goal gave us a new life and carried us to halftime." "At the half we made very few adjustments. Based on game stats and knowing our opponent well, we knew we were in for a fight. In the second half, we played as hard as we could. You could tell that the numbers game started to take a toll. Albertville started rolling in fresh players and we had none to match. The game became a defensive battle as both midfields become exhausted. Fortunately, Defense is our strong point. Jessica Baker as well as two talented 8th graders, Autumn Redford and Breanna Haymon, combined with goal keeper Allison Smith, have given up the fewest goals in school history so far. This defensive unit has the ability to keep any game in reach for offense. We have played some great teams this year and have always had a chance in the end of every game. This group did an awesome job of holding a good team to only one goal. Offensively we struggled a little bit with composer and were unable to create many goal scoring opportunities. Our girls continued to play hard as they could although the pace of the game slowed down a lot. With about 20 min. left in the game we were able to string a good sequence of passes together. Korri Vaughan got the ball in stride and made a great shot from about 20 yards out. This goal as the first one allowed us new life, but no breathing room. For the last 20 min. of the game we took Albertville’s best shot and we just started to run out of gas. It was extremely hard to motivate players that could hardly walk much less play against a great and fresher team. The clock could not run fast enough for us, we absolutely gave all we had to give this night and I could not have been prouder of this team for what they have done and especially what they have had to battle through to get here." Directions to the semi-final field location --- From South – US231: Entering Huntsville at the Tennessee River, US231 becomes Memorial Parkway. Go north to Airport Road exit; take exit to the service road; at intersection with Airport Road, turn left (west). Follow Airport Road to second traffic signal, turn right fields 1 and 2 are on the right (east). Field 3 and 4 are to the left (west). To get to Field 8 turn left (south) at the light. Field on the right.

Lady Knights Soccer
Going To Final Four

May 2, 2010
The Arab Lady Knights made history Saturday as they defeatd the Fort Payne Lady Wildcats to advance to the state semi-finals. The # 8 ranked Lady Knights handed the # 4 Lady Wildcats a 2-1 setback in a second-round Class 5A sub-state match. This will be the first time for the Lady Knights to advance to the Final Four since the program was reinstated in 2002-2003.

The Lady Knights scored both their goals in the final 7 1/2 minutes after Fort Payne (9-4-2), the state runner-up a year ago, had taken a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick 15 minutes into the second half.

Arab advances to the state semifinals Friday, May 7 in Huntsville at the Huntsville Soccer Complex, John Hunt Park on Airport Road (just east of South Memorial Parkway); they will play the Spanish Fort Lady Toros. Game time will be 1:00 pm. Admission cost for the semi-final games is $8.

The Lady Knights, with a record of 17-4-6, are undefeated on their home field. The defeat of Albevtille in sub-state play on April 27 allowed the Knights to advance to the "Elite 8" for the third straight year. The Lady Knights have won their region for the past 5 years.

After the Albertville game, coach Jason Guger said, "This year has been real tough for our team. We have had a lot of key injuries including 5 starters. However, these injuries allowed us to also show off our biggest strength, depth at every position. I knew at the beginning of the year I had about 19 players that I could play. Last night we could only dress 14 healthy players. We played a full roster from Albertville with 22 players. It would have been easy for our girls to lose the game based on strength, size, and numbers, but we did not make excuses. We had 14 girls play as hard as they could possibly play and that was enough to get us through. We did not win based on style, ability, or technique. We won with heart, desire, and toughness. It was not our best game of the year, but we just refused to lose to a very good and motivated Albertville team."

Despite the injuries Guger said the team is blessed with great senior leadership and a lot of young talent. "Sadly, the injury bug started with our seniors. Lara Cleland and Lydia Latham are both 3 plus year starters at the varsity level and both are out due to injury. Our only senior playing is our Captain, Jessica Baker. She has become the heart and sole of this team. With all the injuries, she has not only become one of the best leaders I have ever seen, she also is one of the best players I have ever seen. We also are blessed with a ton of young talent. We start three 8th graders, two freshman, three sophomores, and two juniors around our solo senior."

Guger described the action against Albertville:

"The game started fast for us and it took a few minutes to settle in. In soccer it is pretty important to get off to a good start for confidence, but you must also understand that you have to play 80 min. Albertville was fortunate to open the scoring first. Off of a corner kick, Albertville drove a ball in front of our goal that deflected off of a defender into the net. The deflection gave our Goal keeper zero chance to make a save. You can’t really call it lucky because a player has to make it happen, but we appeared unlucky on that play. After the Albertville score, we picked up speed and aggressiveness and it did not take long at all for us to match the score. Our freshman midfielder, Mindy Edwards got great space and attacked one on one against Albertville’s senior Captain. Mindy made a great outside move and got the edge. She battled through a lot of contact and hammered the ball in side the post from about 15 yards out. Mindy’s goal gave us a new life and carried us to halftime."

"At the half we made very few adjustments. Based on game stats and knowing our opponent well, we knew we were in for a fight. In the second half, we played as hard as we could. You could tell that the numbers game started to take a toll. Albertville started rolling in fresh players and we had none to match. The game became a defensive battle as both midfields become exhausted. Fortunately, Defense is our strong point. Jessica Baker as well as two talented 8th graders, Autumn Redford and Breanna Haymon, combined with goal keeper Allison Smith, have given up the fewest goals in school history so far. This defensive unit has the ability to keep any game in reach for offense. We have played some great teams this year and have always had a chance in the end of every game. This group did an awesome job of holding a good team to only one goal. Offensively we struggled a little bit with composer and were unable to create many goal scoring opportunities. Our girls continued to play hard as they could although the pace of the game slowed down a lot. With about 20 min. left in the game we were able to string a good sequence of passes together. Korri Vaughan got the ball in stride and made a great shot from about 20 yards out. This goal as the first one allowed us new life, but no breathing room. For the last 20 min. of the game we took Albertville’s best shot and we just started to run out of gas. It was extremely hard to motivate players that could hardly walk much less play against a great and fresher team. The clock could not run fast enough for us, we absolutely gave all we had to give this night and I could not have been prouder of this team for what they have done and especially what they have had to battle through to get here."

Directions to the semi-final field location ---

From South – US231: Entering Huntsville at the Tennessee River, US231 becomes Memorial Parkway. Go north to Airport Road exit; take exit to the service road; at intersection with Airport Road, turn left (west). Follow Airport Road to second traffic signal, turn right fields 1 and 2 are on the right (east). Field 3 and 4 are to the left (west). To get to Field 8 turn left (south) at the light. Field on the right.