by Rusty Ellis
The Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats are 1-0 under new head coach Heather Marshall, as they picked up a 3-0 win over the Cookeville Lady Cavs in their season-opener on Tuesday.
In the 12th minute, Taryn Childers put up the first goal of the season for Livingston with a shot past Cookeville keeper Ava Luna to make the score 1-0.
Just four minutes later, Tara Hinds posted her first goal to double the lead, and it stayed that way until halftime, as Livingston’s Laney Bowers put up a perfect first half in net.
Cookeville put together a few more scoring opportunities early in the second half, though they came away with no goals and trailed 2-0 until the 73rd minute. There, Childers converted on a penalty kick for her second goal of the game, as Livingston opened their 2023 campaign with a 3-0 victory over the Lady Cavs.
It’s the first win for first-year head coach Heather Marshall, and it feels even better for her considering the caliber of team they opened the season against.
“It feels great, considering they’re 3A and we’re 2A,” Marshall said. “I thought we played really well in the first half and then we came out kind of flat to start the second and gave them a few too many opportunities than I would like. In the end, they were able to pull it out and I’m proud of that.”
Another first occurred in net for LA, as Bowers made her first career high school start one to remember with a 10-save shutout against a really good Lady Cavs squad.
“She was the player of the game,” Marshall said of her keeper. “Incredible game for her, she had some shots she had to work to get to, some shots that weren’t easy, so I’m proud of her.”
Marshall’s put together a tough schedule for this team, and she says if they want to reach their goals, they’ll have to keep flat moments like the start to the second half on Tuesday to a minimum.
“We saw Baylor do that against us and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that,” Marshall said. “We don’t want to give the other team a chance to come back, so that’s something that we’ll work on. Just coming out stronger to start the second half.”
LA’s next match will be against Heritage on Friday in the Smokey Mountain Cup, while Cookeville will head to Smyrna on Thursday.
