WSOC: Lady Tigers place 5th at Eustace tourney
Eustace TNT Tournament held last Thursday through Saturday. The Lady
Tigers won two of the four games they played, recording back-to-back
shutouts for the first time in the history of the program. (Photo courtesy of
Lauri Sisk)
At the midpoint of only their third season of existence, the Tenaha Lady Tiger soccer team continues to show vast improvement under first-year coach Lauri Sisk as the squad keeps setting win records. THS recorded a pair of wins at the Eustace TNT Tournament last week after knocking off Class 3A Liberty Eylau on the road on Tuesday.
Tenaha opened play this week with a 4-4 mark, a far cry from the team that went winless in its first two seasons. THS hosted Spring Hill on Monday night and will face Hudson on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before welcoming in Liberty Eylau to Tiger Stadium on Friday at 5 p.m.
Tenaha 2, Liberty Eylau 1 -- The Lady Tigers were in the middle of a defensive standoff the Lady Leopards last Tuesday night in Liberty as the two squads fought to a scoreless standoff at the break.
But Crystal Tovar put Tenaha on top early in the second half, before LEHS knotted the score at 1-1, forcing Tenaha to go back on the offensive.
The Lady Tigers showed perseverance late in the match when they moved in position for the winning goal by Lauren Jernigan, giving the team the hard-fought victory.
Eustace TNT Tournament -- Faced with several games in the three-day Eustace TNT Tournament, the Tenaha Lady Tigers took on their opponents one by one, capturing a pair of wins in four games to place fifth in the affair.
THS opened play on Thursday morning when the Lady Tigers faced the host-Eustace squad. The Lady Tigers struggled putting the ball in the goal and fell behind 1-0 at the break. The host squad then added three more insurance goals in the second half to take a 4-0 win.
Tenaha bounced back later Thursday when the Lady Tigers took on the Lady Eagles of Tatum and THS took a close 1-0 victory.
The contest was tied 0-0 at the break. But Jasmine Lindsey's corner kick pass to Angela Plata was on the money and Plata slammed the ball into the net for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
After getting a good night's rest, Tenaha took on Eustace once again. This time the Lady Tigers were ready as they posted a 1-0 victory, marking the first back-to-back shutouts in the history of the program.
Using the momentum from the previous night's Tatum victory, Tenaha recorded the win when Lauren Jernigan popped the ball into the goal and the Lady Tiger defense did the rest.
Tenaha was then forced to play two games again on Friday, taking on a tough North Forney team on Friday night. The results was a 3-0 setback to end the tourney with a 4-4 season record.
"Playing four games in two days is difficult for any soccer team and there were plenty of bruises, turf rash, band aids and ice bags on the long bus ride home," stated Coach Sisk later. "These girls play hard and aggressive and they never quick; they truly love this game.
"It was exciting to watch them get better and take a few wins along the way."