Lady Tigers Sweep on Pre-Season Play Day

The Lady Tigers opened their season on Saturday with a bang. 21 seconds into the Annual DeKalb County Preseason Play day, “Bang”, Hailey Bass drives a shot into the back post of the goal off of a well-played assist from Jerica Braswell. Just like that, the season begins, and the Lady
Tigers are up 1-0 on the Cannon County Lionettes. Like clockwork, the execution of the Lady Tiger midfield composed of Taylor Spare, Brooke Roller, Haley Summers, Kamien Sparks, and Jerica Braswell would find forward Hailey Bass in front of the goal again in the 6th and 7th minutes. With three goals in the first 7 minutes, Hailey Bass completed the “hat trick”, and the Lady Tigers went on to win 5-0 over Cannon County on goals by Jerica Braswell and Angeles Soto.
The DeKalb County Preseason Play day consisted of four teams; Cannon County, Watertown, White County, and the home squad DeKalb County. Each team played four 40 min. matches in a round robin format. Then a second match was played between the bottom two teams and then the top two teams.
In their second match, the Lady Tigers faced White County. The Lady Warriors jumped out to an early lead off of a well hit shot by White County’s Autumn Ferree. However this goal would be the only one the Lady Tigers would give up on the day. With hard work, the home team won their second match 3-1 on goals scored by Alexis Nokes (14th minute), Haley Summers (29th minute), and Angeles Soto (36th minute).
The third match would be against the new upstart team of Watertown, and would prove to be a good opportunity for the Lady Tigers to work on formation and get good experience for some young players. The DeKalb squad would win 8-0 on goals by Jerica Braswell, Lydia Trail, Jessica Billings, Angeles Soto (2), and three by freshman Jhoany Gaspar.
The final match of the day would have DeKalb County facing White County again. The Lady Tigers continued to flex their goal scoring muscles finishing with a 4-0 victory, and wrapping up a very successful preseason undefeated. Goals were scored by Jerica Braswell (8th minute), Hailey Bass (9th minute), Angeles Soto (28th minute), and Jerica Braswell (38th minute).
Overall, the DeKalb Soccer Program showed strength in several areas. With the strong defense of Jackie Overbey, Morgan Odom, Hannah James, and captain Savannah Driver, the Lady Tigers only conceded 1 goal on the day. Both goalkeepers, Katie Hall and Jessica Billings, showed strong performances throughout the play day. The midfield pressed hard on their opponents putting pressure on defenses, setting up scoring chances, and even scoring a few goals of their own. Finally, with a score line of 20 goals scored in the equivalent of two full matches, the forwards played excellently.
The Lady Tigers are looking forward to their upcoming match Tuesday 6:30 at home against Mt. Juliet Christian.