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Davis, Cougars on a roll
Senior nets five as girls soccer blanks Knights
Friday, Sept. 26, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Calverton's Kelcie Davis tries to head a corner kick into the Grace Brethren goal. The senior ended up with five goals in the rout, and now has 23 markers on the season.
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"What frustrates me is I have a hard time finding teams, because they just won't play us," Leslie said.
It's no wonder he can't find opponents: The defending MISAL champions are running roughshod over the league again this season.
And, Tuesday, Calverton (6-1, 4-0 MISAL) claimed its most recent victim with a 9-0 home pasting over an inexperienced Grace Brethren squad.
Kelcie Davis scored five goals, four of them in the first half, to lead the offensive charge against Grace Brethren (1-4, 1-1).
"She's a great player [and] she's fun to watch," Grace Brethren head coach Tammie Ellis said. "Her incredible shots are right on and she's an incredible distributor. I can't say enough great things about her."
Beth Bunn added a two-goal performance and Emily Middleton and Callie Price each added one goal. Goalies Katie Tarry (three saves) and Jessica Selby (three saves) each played one half and shared the shutout.
Grace Brethren increased its roster size from nine players three weeks ago to 16, but still has just five actual soccer players.
"I was very proud of my girls for the way I thought they gave 100 percent," Ellis said. "It's a building season, [but] we're doing great. I'm so excited."
The win was another dominating performance by the Cougars, who seem to erupt offensively and batten down the hatches on defense every game out.
Calverton is averaging 7.8 goals this year and has scored eight or more in five games. They poured in a season-high 11 in a rout over Kings Christian Academy last Thursday.
"We just have a lot of offense and the girls feed me great balls," said Davis, who has a team-high 23 goals this season. "It's definitely a team effort."
And the defense certainly has been pulling its share of the load. The Cougars defense, which plays just three on the back line, is allowing 1.71 goals against per game. After allowing five goals in its first two games –– to Field School and St. Andrew's Episcopal School –– the defense has settled in and yielded two over its last five games.
"We're trying to keep it cleared up to [our offense]," said sophomore center back Nicole Lyddane. "We've been passing it out wide really fast and clearing it up, because it works out well. And we try to stay pushed together in the middle."
"Defense is always an unsung hero," Davis said. "They save us so many times a game. They're the backbone of our team."
Calverton's only loss this season was a 5-4 setback to St. Andrew's on Sept. 5, a game Leslie purposely penciled in to keep his team sharp. The Cougars opened the 2008 season against another strong opponent, Field School, who the Cougars defeated 8-5.
"The first two games we played because I try to get the hardest non-conference opponents I can get," Leslie said. "We know we have the talent so they should perform like this all the time, in all honesty."
Everyone agreed the team learned something from the loss to St. Andrew's.
"St. Andrew's was a good match and a good wake-up call for us," Leslie admitted. "It showed us we need to work hard. Back in the preseason, our big thing was defense, because we weren't talking a lot back there and St. Andrew's used that to attack us. That [game] helped us a lot, because it forced our defense to talk. No matter who your opponents are, if someone's not picking up the ball and communicating, it'll create opportunities."
"It just reminded us there's always somebody out there who's a little better than you," Davis said."
While that's all fine and dandy when it comes time to winning games, it won't help much in the way of finding willing opponents.
mreid@somdnews.com
