GENTRY -- The Lady Pioneers endured a three-hour bus ride to their first conference game in Dardanelle on March 18. Although it was a tie game at halftime, with a score of 2-2, the Sand Lizards suffered a loss in the final eight minutes of the game due to a tough shot by Gentry senior Ana Linch at the 18-yard-line and a penalty kick by senior Haley Borgeteien-James. Linch also had the first two goals of the game. The final score was a 4-2 win for Gentry.
Although spring break began after their first conference win, the soccer team didn't take a break from playing. They held practices on the following Tuesday and Thursday in order to prepare for the second conference game against Bergman on the Monday they returned from the school break, March 28.
The Bergman game resulted in yet another win for the Lady Pioneers. In fact, they mercy-ruled the Panthers, 6-0, before halftime! The first goal was by Linch, who received an assist from sophomore Haley Hays in the 10th minute. Junior Destiny Bolles scored the second goal of the game off of a corner kick roughly two minutes later, her personal first of the season. Junior Karina Appelgrath, a GHS exchange student, followed with the third goal, with an assist by Linch. Linch proceeded to score the next three goals of the game, with assists from Hays and senior Rendi Dalrymple.
Senior and central defender, Erika Magana, also managed to obtain a yellow card from a foul roughly 10 yards behind the half line just before halftime.
In the second half, Borgeteien-James managed to score the seventh goal of the game with an assist from Appelgrath. Bolles soon followed with an eighth goal, leading to the eventual final score of 8-0.
After the eighth goal, a member of Bergman's defensive line attempted to slide tackle Gentry's Hays. Unfortunately, she suffered a serious injury from the attempt and was removed from the game.
When asked about what happened in the play, Hays bluntly responded with, "The girl tackled me; I got up and she didn't."
Because the Bergman Panthers suffered previous injuries within the game and lacked player substitutions, they were forced to play down a player. The Pioneers showed their true sportsmanship by removing one of their players from the field as well. They proceeded to finish the remaining minutes of the game as a 10 vs. 10 match.
As Gentry's coach, Fabrizio Campagnola, reflected on the past two games, he said, "The two conference wins in the first two games is what we wanted. The team knows that we will continue to work and be ready for the rest of the conference games and the postseason."
The Gentry Lady Pioneer soccer team had their next game scheduled for April 5 against Eureka Springs in Gentry (after press time).
The above story is republished, with permission, from the Gentry High School Pioneer Press, an online student newspaper.
Sports on 04/06/2016