Sun., Feb. 18th, 2007 Abilene girls beat Lee
Derek Weinbrenner
Midland Reporter-Telegram
02/18/2007
It was a third-consecutive loss for the Lee girls soccer team as Abilene capitalized early and ground out a 1-0 victory Saturday at Grande Communications Stadium. The Lady Eagles (5-5-0 overall, 2-2 District 3-5A) scored the lone goal on a penalty kick eight minutes into the match.
Lee's Chelsea Taylor cleared an unlucky ball that bounced off a Lady Eagle head. With all the Lady Rebels changing fields, Abilene High had plenty of space to work inside the penalty box. Miranda Bersosa took the ball in the box and was sandwiched between two Lady Rebels. She took her own penalty kick and put it past goalkeeper Katie Stewart. "I'd much rather go to a shootout," Lee coach Amanda Melchor said after a frustrating match. "It's just one bad play." The game resembled a '99 Dallas Stars hockey game for the remainder of the match as both teams wore on each other and would not give an inch on defense. Lee (5-4-1, 1-3) managed seven shots on goal in the match but very few of them presented a challenge for the Abilene High goalkeepers. "They never had a clean look," Abilene High coach Brent Camp said. "It's a testimony to the girls' work ethic."
The Lady Rebels finally got a fire lit under them about the 52nd-minute mark, creating two excellent scoring opportunities. Both times, however, their shots misfired. "It's very frustrating when you can't finish and your defense plays so well," said Lee captain DeNeal Nutt. "We know we can win, it's just getting shots on the goal."