Saturday, March 29, 1997

Cougars title bid falls short

By Keven Costlow

Special Writer

BEDFORD - Judging by the 4-0 score, Arlington Martin's regional semifinal victory over Cooper Friday at Pennington Field appeared to be quick and painless.

For Cooper, however, it was neither.

The Lady Warriors, now 19-3-2, scored early and often in taking Cooper out of the game in the first half and proved to be a cruel lesson on which team had playoff experience and which team didn't.

"The experience factor definitely helped," Martin coach Ruth Knight said, after seeing her team play in its sixth regional tournament in seven years. "I knew this was the first time Abilene Cooper had come this far."

CHS coach Claudia Blea agreed that the experience factor was a big difference.

"We had a case of nerves in the first half," she said. "We competed better in the second half than in the first half, but we'll just have to learn from our mistakes."

It took the Lady Warriors less than a minute to score the only goal they would need to win the game. Upon seizing the ball after the Cooper kickoff, Martin launched an attack that resulted in a Heather Meesey goal just 57 seconds into the contest.

The Lady Cougars, who finished 19-4, never really got their offense going in the first half, despite some good chances. Cooper managed only two shots in the first half as senior forward Stacy Metcalf was bottled up by the Martin defense.

"They knew we had Metcalf up front and would mark her tightly," Blea said. "I told our other players it was their turn to turn it up but we weren't on today."

In the 15th minute, the Lady Warriors' persistence handed them a second goal. Meesey fired a shot that hit the post and, with CHS goalkeeper Catherine Weir out of position, Sarah Shiflett fired a rebound that a Cooper defender blocked on the goal line.

But Heather Ragsdale was there for that rebound and slammed it home to give Martin a 2-0 lead.

After the Lady Cougars settled down, they matched Martin for a while until three minutes remained in the half.

Martin midfielder Gina Castellano rifled a shot from 35 yards out that hit the crossbar, and while Weir was still looking for it, Kelly Woods came in to slip the rebound into the net and give the Lady Warriors a 3-0 lead.

Before Cooper had a chance to react to that, Martin struck again. Meesey dribbled down the right sideline for 40 yards and slid a crossing pass that rolled into the goal to make it 4-0 at halftime.

The Lady Cougars, trying to salvage some pride, had two scoring opportunities in the second half. Metcalf fired a 46-yard shot six minutes into the second half, but Martin goalkeeper Keith-Ann Wagner watched it sail over the goal.

With nine minutes left in the game, Metcalf charged in on one last attempt at scoring, but the ball rolled too far in front of her and Wagner was able to smother the play.

"When you get to this round of the playoffs, every team is a good team," Blea said. "At this round you have to be ready to perform, and today we weren't.

"The first half wasn't how we intended it. We wanted to set the intensity level and they jump-started pretty quick.

"Catherine Weir in goal, in the second half, toughened up. Carloyn Poyner and Cricket (Holt) contributed in the middle. Stacy Metcalf gave it all she could. Kelly Garcia, a freshman, had one of her best games. To see that from a freshman, in the playoffs with no fear, is promising.

"It was a great ride. We're looking at next year being just as promising."