By Kailee Dick
The DeKalb County Lady Tigers opened the soccer season by defeating the Jackson County Lady Blue Devils 2-1 on Tuesday night.
The game was a back-and-forth match up early until Junior Reagan Howell scored first in the match for the Lady Devils with 9:12 remaining in the opening half.
DeKalb County quickly answered as senior Kendall Davis tied the game with a goal with 4:31 left in the first half.
“We have been working really hard this summer on our possession,” said DeKalb County head coach Dylan Kleparek. “We worked the ball really well and a whole lot on possession and not so much on finishing. We got a lot of balls in the box that we couldn’t put into the net. Jackson County did well though. They really got back well and played some good defense.”
With the game tied at 1-1 to start the second half, the momentum shifted to the Lady Tigers changed. As sophomore Rosio Godinez scored the go-ahead goal for DeKalb County with 22:47 left in the match to give the Lady Tigers a 2-1 lead.
“Before the second half we had a talk about more possession, more passing, and moving the ball,” said Kleparek. “When we started doing that, they could not break us down as easily, so we had more momentum because we were able to keep the ball on our half. I think that was the difference.”
DeKalb County will look to advance to 2-0 on the season as they travel to Tullahoma on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Jackson County will travel to Macon County on Thursday at 6 p.m.
