by Jamie Harris
The Berkeley Springs High School Lady Indians Varsity Soccer Team had a busy week on the pitch with two home games and a long trip to Grant County. Despite three games in five days the Lady Indians were able to break into the win column for the first time this season and finished the week with two wins and a loss.
Berkeley Springs hosted the Mercersburg Academy Blue Storm on Tuesday, October 2. Before the game the Lady Indians wore green jerseys in support of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and the Coach to Cure DMD campaign. The Lady Indians also honored freshman Preston Harris (younger brother of senior Darby Harris) in his fight against Duchenne’s.
Once the ball dropped and the game started it was all Mercersburg Academy. The Blue Storm jumped out to a 6-0 lead and maintained that score at the break.
In the second half, Mercersburg tacked on three more goals to push the score to 9-0. However, the Lady Indians avoided being shutout when sophomore Mikalia Ek scored a goal.
The Lady Indians had several shots on goal as Taylor Payne (one), Hynnja Dietrich (one), Dana Smith (one) and Ek (four) each had opportunities. Defensively goalie Abbie Stotler had eight saves in 17 attempts for the Tribe.
The Lady Indians hosted the Keyser Golden Tornado on senior night on Thursday, October 4.
In the first half, Berkeley Springs grabbed a 1-0 lead on senior McKayla Romo’s penalty kick. Keyser would bounce back and tie the score at 1-1. The score would remain tied as the game went into the half.
In the second half, the Lady Indians bounced back as a pair of freshmen played a pivotal point in scoring the winning goal. Hannah Shekey took the ball up the field and made a beautiful cross pass to fellow freshman Brittany Huntley who drilled home the goal.
Defensively the Lady Indians head coach Steve Havermale made some adjustments at the half and switched goalies as senior Harris replaced Stotler. In the second half Harris had seven saves in the goal including a nice save on a penalty kick to pick up the win. Stotler had a solid first half as she recorded eight saves.
Offensively, Berkeley Springs had multiple shots on the Keyser goal as Payne (six), Ek (three), Romo (10), Avery Cook (one) and Huntley (one) each put the pressure on the Keyser goal keeper.
After the Lady Indians first win of the season, the team honored its nine seniors for their last home game of the season.
Seniors honored were Harris (captain), Payne (captain), Romo (captain), Cook, Chloe Didawick, Sydney Havermale (stats), Katie Hoffman, Tori Michael and Kara Weigle.
The Lady Indians ventured to Grant County to take on the Petersburg Vikings on Friday, October 5. The game was a make-up game due to the previous game being postponed back on September 6 due to storms. At that time there was a little over 16 minutes left in the game and the Lady Indians held a 3-0 lead after two goals from Huntley and one from Ek.
The game resumed from the spot of the previous game and score.
The score stayed 3-0 to the half. In the second half Dietich scored to give the Lady Indians their second straight win by the score of 4-1.
Goal keeper Stotler had seven saves for the Lady Indians in her first varsity win.
The Lady Indians had a trip to St. James in Hagerstown, Md. on Tuesday, October 9. Then on Thursday, October 11 the Lady Indians will travel to Clear Spring for a contest with the Lady Blazers at 5:15 p.m.
