New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

Rams pull away from upstart Lady Trojans

By Alan Chamberlain | April 23, 2008 12:21 pm

For most of the first half, New Kent’s Lady Trojans proved up to the task of challenging Lafayette’s Rams, one of the top teams in Bay Rivers District soccer.

The Rams took a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into last Thursday’s contest, but could not penetrate the Lady Trojan defense to turn the game into an early rout. Over the final five minutes of the first half, however, the visitors managed two more goals and poured it on after the break to claim a 9-0 district win.

“We did a really good job in the first half of disrupting their passing,” said Lady Trojan coach Chad Honeycutt whose team dipped to 0-4 in the district and 2-5 overall.

“After our last game, I challenged the girls for the past couple of days to step it up,” he said. “Lafayette is one of the district’s better teams, and it shows when we put in an effort like this that we can play with the better teams.”

The Rams’ Katherine Higgins put the visitors on top, angling a shot past keeper Laura Smith just inside the 27-minute mark. Nearing 13 minutes to play in the first half, New Kent had an opportunity to tie as Abby McIninch took a pass from Anna Black and blasted an open shot. But Ram keeper Addie Williams made a diving save to preserve the shutout.

The Rams, meanwhile, bounced two shots off the goal’s uprights, and Smith stopped four Ram efforts including a penalty kick off the foot of the visitors’ Leigh Hill.

“That was a quality penalty kick, and Laura made a great save,” Honeycutt said.

But with just over five minutes left, Lafayette’s Jacinda Flemming hammered in a shot from out of a crowd in front of the New Kent goal. Then with under a minute remaining, Higgins registered her second score to give the visitors a 3-0 halftime advantage.

Lafayette dominated after the break. New Kent’s best chance to avert a shutout came with just over seven minutes to go as McIninch got another shot, but drove the ball over the Ram net.

For the night, the Rams took 31 shots to only three for New Kent. Smith finished with 10 saves.