By By Robby Atkinson/staff writer
November 21, 2003
Most of the focus on Meridian High School has been on the unbelievable playoff run of the football team, but on Thursday night at Meridian Community College the focus was on soccer.
The Lady Wildcats took care of business in convincing fashion with a 5-0 shutout, while the boy's closed the night with a 5-1 win to give MHS a clean sweep. The Meridian girls are now 5-1 on the season and return to action Saturday at Northeast Park against Starkville. The boy's moved its overall record to 3-3 and hit the road Saturday to participate in the Northwest Rankin Tournament.
Meridian (girls) 5
Laurel 0
The Lady Wildcats scored early and often to take the five-goal win over the Lady Tornadoes. Meridian High head coach Jerry McReynolds was pleased with his teams effort and knows that the next few games are huge.
Meridian got on the board early with a quick goal at the 37:40 mark on the clock. Sarah King found a small opening at the top of the goal and was able to sneak a shot in a put the Lady Wildcats on top 1-0. Jessica Weathers was given credit for the assist on the play for Meridian.
Meridian almost took a 2-0 lead moments later, but the Laurel defense stood tall. Sarah Hammas set up a great cross over pass to Kortney Harris, but the shot sailed right into the Toronado defense to keep the scored at 1-0 in favor of MHS. The Lady Wildcats finally earned its second score of the half with 16:20 left. Erin Ware took advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Kashunda Jones and notched a goal on a loose ball in the box to extend the lead to 2-0.
Ware collected her second goal of the night right before the conclusion of the first half to give Meridian a comfortable 3-0 lead at the end of the first. The Lady Wildcats got a great second half performance from freshman Leanna Baldner. Baldner got her first goal of the second half at the 29:47 mark to give Meridian a 4-0 edge over Laurel. The goal by Baldner was a result of a careless foul by Laurel in the box. Baldner recorded her second goal with 24:33 left in the second to lead the Lady Wildcats to the win.
Sarah Denham also got her fourth shutout of the her to add to her already colorful career at Meridian High.
Meridian (girls) 5
Laurel 1
Meridian got a pair of big goals early in the first half that proved to be plenty of momentum to roll to the win over Laurel. Head coach Doug Kitchens was impressed with the way his team showed up and played.
The first goal in the game came from Steven Cook to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with 27:36 left in the first. MHS extended the lead to 2-0 with 1:53 remaining in the first off a great goal from Philip Sullivan. Meridian came out of the halftime break on fire from a shooting stand point. Cook added his second score of the evening with 27:21 left in the second to make the score 3-0.
Laurel found its first goal of the night off the foot of Andrew Ousley to cut into the MHS lead at 3-1 with 23:46 left. Steven Sollie came right back moments later to give Meridian an even larger lead with a goal with 18:56 left in the game to make the score 4-1. The Wildcats finished the win off with a final goal from Tray Schorn to give Meridian the win.