Lady Tigers Fill Up Goal

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER/Prairie Grove teammates, Teagan Higgins (left) and Emily Maraver, work to move the ball downfield during the Lady Tigers run away 9-0 thrashing of Gentry at home on Tuesday, April 9.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER/Prairie Grove teammates, Teagan Higgins (left) and Emily Maraver, work to move the ball downfield during the Lady Tigers run away 9-0 thrashing of Gentry at home on Tuesday, April 9.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- A shorthanded Prairie Grove squad routed Gentry 9-0 in conference girls soccer action on Tuesday, April 9.

"We're down a few with injuries tonight but my girls and I talked before the game about our game plan, what we planned to do, and they executed it just how I asked them to. It's hot out here, but they're in really good shape and they made the passes when they needed to. They took the shots when they needed to and they finished. So, overall, great win for them," said Prairie Grove coach Stephanie Mitchell. "Had some girls get some shots on goal that normally don't get shots on goal and they connected and they finished and that's awesome. I'm super proud of them."

Sophomore Teagan Higgins scored 3 goals and added an assist. Junior Aniyah Gibbs notched 1 goal and 2 assists. Senior Megan Thompson chipped in a goal and assist as did junior Yuritzy Torres and freshman Ashley Clark.

Also scoring goals were: sophomore Adamaris Lopez and freshman Millie Webb.

Conditioning became a factor with Lady Tigers (11-3, 4-0) hungry for goals, getting into the game and taking advantage of their opportunities.

"The girls might not love it during practice, but I promise you they appreciate it on times like tonight when it really shows through," Mitchell said.

Prairie Grove has an experienced goalkeeper in Jalia Halbert, who had switched to playing the field this season before returning to the position where she was All-State the last years. An injury to Gracie Pierce mandated the move.

"My backup keeper is actually my All-State for the last three years keeper, but she's played on the field this year and done an excellent job," Mitchell said.

Pierce went down with an injury on Monday, April 8.

"We're not sure how long she will be out, but I feel 100 percent confident with Jalia Halbert in goal," Mitchell said.

Halbert expanded her vision of the game by playing in the field, which Mitchell sees as an advantage.

"I feel like it's given her another dimension on top of her experience already that she is able to understand the field part as well as in goal," Mitchell said. "She hasn't had that opportunity in the past three years, but she's gotten that opportunity this year. So, I feel like she's grown a lot in that sense."

Jacqueline Jenkins sustained an injury against Berryville on April 2.

"We're still kind of awaiting results to see the severity of it, but we're hopeful that she'll be back pretty soon," Mitchell said.

Jenkins has 8 goals in the 13 games she's played in.

Sports on 04/17/2019