GENTRY — The Gentry High School girls’ soccer team lost 3-0 in a matchup against Fayetteville’s junior varsity team on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean the game was not a good one for the Gentry girls.
“I was real pleased with the match overall,” said Gentry girls’ coach Dan Childress. “We’re way ahead of where we were this time last year, even considering we have lost a lot of preparation time and had the first three matches canceled due to weather. We were well-organized and comfortable with what we were doing.
“I am pleased with our fitness level as well,” Childress said, “especially considering we had to play from box to box throughout the match.We had four girls on the field for the first time, and they came through with flying colors.
“Certainly there is a lot of room to improve, and we made a couple of mistakes with defensive technique that were costly. At the same time, those mistakes will disappear with repetitions and match experience. The difference in the match being 3-0 in Fayetteville’s favor or 1or 2 -0 in our favor was very slight. And we were playing some very good competition in Fayetteville’s JV.
The 7A JV matches are not official varsity matches for the Gentry team but are very important to the team’s experience and development and in preparation for the state tournament.
“That’s why I like to have them on the schedule,” Childress said. “It gave us a good indication of where we are to start the season, and I am very pleased with that.”
Childress said his biggest concern during the early pre-conference phase of the season is that the girls improve each time they play, regardless of the score.
Gentry 1, Fayetteville 0
The boys came away with a victory over the Fayetteville boys’ JV team by a score of 1-0.
Mario Orozco scored the winning goal for the Pioneers. The strong defense was led by led by senior sweeper Lorenzo Figueroa.
“Freshman goalie Elijah Calbaza pitched the shutout, Gentry boys’ coach Chuck Jones said.
The soccer teams played Huntsville after press time on Tuesday and are scheduled to play at Decatur on friday.
Sports, Pages 7 on 02/24/2010