FAYETTEVILLE — Gentry’s Adora Lee and Ausha Griffin claimed postseason awards for stellar senior soccer seasons.
The pair got an extra honor yesterday when they played in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Soccer Game. The recent Gentry graduates joined the state’s top players at Razorback Field.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Lee said. “It’s like graduating with honors in athletics.”
“It’s like our bonus after the season,” Griffin added.
A bonus well deserved for two players that helped Gentry’s four-year-old program go from a onewin team to back-to-back winning records and victories at the Class 4A State Tournament.
“I’ve said it many times before: They had a hugeimpact on the development of our program over the last three years,” Gentry coach and West All-Stars assistant Dan Childress said. “They were instrumental to our development in the past three years.”
Lee, Griffin and Yochabel Perales - the team’s only seniors this spring - joined on nearly the same day before their sophomore season. Gentry finished 1-15 in its debut season but has built 6-8-2, 13-3-3 and 11-3 records since.
Lee and Griffin didn’t play organized soccer before joining the Lady Pioneers, and Childress is happy with the improvements they made in three short years.
Lee, an All-State pick,developed into a solid passer and ball-handler. She scored 17 goals as a junior but moved back to the midfield this season.
“We needed somebody in the middle of the field as an organizing midfielder, someone to run the show in the middle,” Childress said. “(Lee) was in a position where she didn’t have the opportunity to score as many goals but this year was at least as important as the year before because of all the things she did.”
Lee, who scored four goals as a senior and had 27 in her career, understood her role as a defender and passer.
“There was a lot more running but (Childress) kept telling the team the game is won in the midfield,” she said.
Lee almost didn’t return to the pitch after her first season. Lee, who said she’d probably be the smallest player in tonight’s All-Star game, told Childress she thought she was too little to play soccer.
“I told her, ‘You’re the toughest thing on the field. I’m never concerned about you,’” Childress said with a laugh.
Griffin also grewinto her role as a sweeper, helping a Gentry sturdy defense that only allowed eight goals during the regular season.
“She’s just been a very solid performer back there,” Childress said. “She’s somebody you really could count on in front of the goal.”
Griffin, an all-conference pick along with Perales, expected the talent at Tuesday’s All-Star game would produce a high level of soccer with crisp passing and better possessions.
Griffin will likely see more of that next year. She plans to play soccer at either Bacone College or the University of the Ozarks.
Editor's note: The game was scheduled to be played Tuesday at 6 p.m. - too late for results to be included in this week's issue.
Sports, Pages 7 on 06/23/2010