PHS girls content with outcome despite loss

Published: March 18, 2009

By Sara Page
Media General News Service

The Powhatan girls varsity soccer team took their lumps in a 6-0 loss to Cosby Thursday night, but the team was happy to be playing such tough competition as an opener to their season and walked away with some little victories from the game.

The Lady Indians feature 12 underclassmen on a roster of 21. About half of the starting lineup is freshmen, and with most of the team’s scrimmages and practices canned due to the early March snowstorm, no one really knew what to expect as they opened their season against AAA opponent Cosby High School.

Cosby opened scoring in the fifth minute with a hard strike from sophomore Joy Grove off a feed from Courtney Hook, but the goal would be all the Lady Titans would get in the first half. Anchored by seniors Kristine Trader and Ataya Harrison and junior goalie Mandy Stowers, Powhatan kept a potent Cosby attack quiet. Harrison redirected a pair of shots toward midfield midway through the half, and Trader kept the Lady Titans contained in the left corner.

Despite the defensive effort, Cosby got a few good looks, and Stowers held her line. She made a diving grab on a kick by Lindsay Carns and showed great awareness of the field when Hook took a feed from Carns and angled a shot toward the far left post. Stowers made the stop and covered the ball just fractions of an inch from the goal line.

“She’s been working with a graduate of Powhatan who’s playing at the college level,” Powhatan head coach Pam Spotts said. “He’s come this past week and worked with her about her lines and about technique of diving for the ball and covering the ball up, and I think you saw that tonight. She did a wonderful job tonight. She really enjoys being back there, and we knew she’d be tested tonight, and I think she performed very well.”

The Lady Indians showed a little offensive spark when Marielle Rando booted a ball over the Cosby defense to Tyra Mitchell. Mitchell got a shot off but Cosby goalie Cameron Bloom made the grab.

Trader was injured late in the half on a corner kick where it appeared that she took a hard elbow to the bread basket and got the wind knocked out of her. She came off the field and stayed benched for the second half.

The team denied a header from Cosby junior Becca Wann to end the first half, but Wann would spark the Lady Titans’ effort in the second half.

She scored two goals and got two assists and was all over the field, leaping in the air and getting heads above everyone.

“Becca Wann, she’s just amazing,” Spotts said. “She put a clinic on, and that they were willing to go out and challenge her, I give them a lot of credit for that because she’s a strong young lady and very skilled.”

Grove picked up another goal and an assist in the second half, and rounding out scoring for the Lady Titans was Kaitlyn Robinson off an assist from Katie Minczuk in the 58th minute and Carns off an assist from Wann in the 75th minute. Bloom recorded six saves while Stowers had 11 for Powhatan.

“We’re very young. Half of my team is freshmen, so this is a big game for us,” Spotts said. “We won’t see anybody tougher … The first half, I was very, very pleased. I thought they did very well, worked together, stopped [Cosby]. You know, they only scored once, and that was kind of like a fluke because we missed an assignment, but I think, overall, the first half especially, we did a nice job of stopping them.

“I was very proud of them, at how well they worked together, and they never gave up and played the whole way to the end,” Spotts continued. “I like that about them and everything else will come … It’s good to play this type of competition early, so you really know what type of team you have.”

Powhatan’s second game of the tournament was postponed Friday night due to inclement weather.

Sara Page is Sports Editor for the Midlothian Exchange.