Caption: Photo courtesy Coach Lea and Spring Valley girl’s varsity soccer players
Bonkers or brilliant there is no disputing that Coach Lea and his army of volunteers executed the 2008 edition of the Taco Bell Viking Cup with flying colors. Despite abysmal weather Thursday, the teams and support staff pulled through to ensure the tournament was held in its entirety.
Part of the Taco Bell Viking Cup’s appeal is the merciless nature of bracket match-ups across the board. Considering the obstacles a host team faces in their preparation for a 32 team tournament, the Lady
Vikings fifth place finish, including a 2-0 loss to eventual champion Wando, is more than respectable.
However, Coach Lea is looking for more than just respect. After a 1-0 victory over SCISA Preseason #3 Ben Lippen in which his girl’s had the lion’s share of possession, there was certainly room for improvement. Nevertheless, a nicely taken header from senior
Jamie Shaw was enough for the Lady Vikings to advance and meet Riverside in the winner’s bracket.
Top-ranked Class 3A Riverside presented Spring Valley with another tough match-up.
“We were slow and Riverside completely controlled the early tempo. Unfortunately, this has been the pattern for my team this year - rarely on fire early. As the game matured, though, we slowly turned the tide and really controlled most of the second half, so I was excited about that and was really happy to earn the win,” said Coach Lea.
Against defending Class 4A State Champions Wando there was very little margin for error. Coach Lea recalled some of the breakdowns in play, “we held the ball for way too many touches, we did not move well with the ball, and we definitely did not move well off of the ball. Wando did, and that was the difference.”
Although the Lady Vikings were unable to advance beyond group play, Coach Lea recognized some encouraging developments in the side, “I think our most dominating new performer is
Kristi Newton, in the back. Last year, she was all raw speed and aggression with less skill and tactical understanding. She learned a lot last year, and then improved even more over her club season. She has been a very pleasant surprise in the back so far and a great complement to
Janna Komorowski.”
Coach Lea added, “I thought that Whitney Smith (midfield) and Guneet Malhi (GK) both showed some good stuff and really helped us at times in ways they have never shown in the past.”
The Spring Valley crowd has just over a week to regroup before hosting (#5) Irmo March 3rd at
7:00 p.m., in the Ashley Dent Memorial Game. Mike Mauldin and the girls from Irmo had a similar showing in the Taco Bell Viking Cup finishing with a 2-1 record and both sides will be looking to get back to winning form.
Extra Time Features
2/27/08