Soccer Lady Lions beat Paris
March 2, 2010

By DAVID CLAYBOURN
Herald-Banner Staff

GREENVILLE -- Wind gusts up to 24 mph and wind chill temperatures below the freezing mark made Greenville’s home finale in soccer an adventure for both the Lady Lions and Paris on Monday night.

How cold was it?

Dana Jackson, ticket-taker for the game, worked inside a ticket booth for the first match this season, noting that the wind was just too strong for her to work at her customary spot at an outdoor table.

The Lady Lions scored four times with the wind and then hung on in the second half while battling that stiff breeze for a 4-2 District 20-4A victory.

Bailey Phillips scored twice for the Lady Lions, who also collected single goals from Katelynn Twilley and Maddy Crabtree as they stayed undefeated in 20-4A play at 5-0-1.

The Lady Lions, now 9-3-1 for the season, have two district matches remaining at North Lamar on Friday and at Princeton on March 9.

“We came out and played really hard in the first half,” said Greenville coach Ron Beck, whose Lady Lions led 4-0 at halftime. “I told our captain let’s go with the wind the first half and wear the goalie out and it worked.”

Twilley scored the first goal of the match with a boot from 20 yards with 36:01 left in the first half.

Twilley set up the Lady Lions’ second goal scored by Phillips with 23:17 left in the first half. Phillips booted in Twilley’s deflected shot.

Phillips scored on a direct kick with 13:38 left in the first half, bending her shot around a wall of Paris defenders.

Crabtree capped scoring for the Lady Lions with 9:16 left in the first half following a cross by Phillips.

Paris scored both its goals in the second half following corner kicks. Meredith Thrash made it 4-1 with 32:31 left when she found a small opening in the Greenville defense as a big mass of players battled for the ball following the corner kick.

Trisha Chester scored nearly the same way for Paris with 21:01 remaining.

Greenville wound up with an 11-6 advantage in shots on goal. Goalkeeper Ellen Robins, who worked the second half, recorded four saves. Emelie Kilgore, who started at goalkeeper for the Lady Lions, was not tested in the first half while Paris went against the wind.

Greenville’s junior varsity battled the Paris JV to a 0-0 tie.