Jefferson takes control early to beat Lady Raiders

Published 8:00 pm Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Southeast Whitfield High School’s girls soccer team has struggled with slow starts throughout the season, and the old problem reared it’s head at the worst possible time on Tuesday night. The Lady Raiders were on their back foot from the opening whistle at home against Jefferson in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament and never recovered, losing 5-0.

Despite the disappointing result, Southeast senior Melisa Fraire, who didn’t play the last few weeks due to injury, said she’s proud of the Lady Raiders’ season. Southeast has made the state tournament three consecutive seasons and won its first state tournament game in school history in 2015.

“I think this was one of our best seasons, we’ve never come out so strong and put forth so much effort,” Fraire said. “It sucks I couldn’t play after the Northwest game because I got hurt, but I’m really proud of my team because they really tried and wanted it this year. We didn’t get (the result) we wanted, but that happens.”

Jefferson (11-4-1) was the third seed out of Region 8-4A, but they were the stronger side from the first 10 minutes. The Lady Dragons scored their first goal on a breakaway with a shot by Maryanne Kilgore in the 11th minute. Valeria LaDue added a second Jefferson goal four minutes later, and Makenna Lay scored in the 31st minute. Then with just six seconds left before halftime Briana Rosales lofted a shot over Southeast goalkeeper Alexandra Chavez for a 4-0 Lady Dragons lead.

“Jefferson is a very talented and well-coached team and they came out and took advantage of every opportunity they had,” Southeast coach Todd Close said. “We didn’t even begin to slow them down until the second half. Like all year long it was the tale of two halves. We did a lot better in the second half but it was too little, too late.”

Southeast (8-8) had just five shots in the game, three of which came on free kicks by Ester Paniagua. The Lady Raiders did a better job of slowing down the Lady Dragons attack in the second half. Jefferson notched the fifth and final goal with seven minutes remaining when LaDue scored on another breakaway. Chavez finished the game with five saves.

“It was a huge difference in the second half,” Fraire said. “To be losing 4-0 in the first half and then to come back and only allow one goal in the second half, we showed up in the second half and didn’t put our heads down.”

Close has challenged the girls to continue to work on conditioning and playing more physical. Though the program has made strides in recent seasons, those are the aspects of the game the Lady Raiders still lag behind when compared to the stronger teams in the state. That storyline was similar earlier this month when the Lady Raiders competed at the Smoky Mountain Cup in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

“We talked at halftime about the Gatlinburg tournament and how that physical play is here again,” Close said. “I was hoping we would be more used to it and prepared for it but we kind of got pushed off the ball in the first half. It was better in the second half but it just keeps showing us what we need to keep working on.”