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September 14, 2012

Princeton girls pounce on Spring Valley

By TAMMIE TOLER Princeton Times

PRINCETON — Princeton Senior High School girls’ soccer team welcomed the Spring Valley Timberwolves Wednesday and the Tigers pounced.

Although both teams played every second of the competition, Princeton won handily by a 6-1 final score.

The victory increased the Tigers’ season record to 8-1 and solidified the school’s fifth-place ranking in the state.

The team was recently ranked in a tie for fourth in West Virginia, but Dye said the most recent round of listings showed Princeton in fifth. Additionally, the Princeton team has been ranked 69th in the nation’s top 100 girls’ teams in Class AAA.

“They are a great group of girls. They are hard-working, and this is their sport,” Coach Michelle Dye said. “A lot of them have played youth soccer, and they play in travel teams. They play all the time to become better than they are.”

Sophomore Amanda Barrett led the scoring Wednesday, sending two shots into the goal, while assisting with one more. Shaylah Walls, Ashley Culicerto, Laken Autry and Danielle Hall all chipped in one goal on the way to the win. In addition, Tori Billips assisted one of her teammates in scoring a goal.

“We came in with the mentality that we’re fourth in the state, but that’s just going to make us work harder,” sophomore Laken Autry said. “[The ranking] is good, but we’re always looking to do better.”

Autry and her teammate Amanda Barrett said the team’s chemistry is a big ingredient in its success.

“Just working as a team really helps. As the season has come along, we’ve progressed a lot together,” Battett said. “A lot of us play travel in the spring, which helps us out a lot.”

So far, the Tiger team’s only loss this season has come at the hands of Greenbrier East, but Dye said she strives to keep her electrifying team grounded.

“I just try to keep them down to reality,” she said. “They have to work hard to continue to succeed, and they know that.”

While the soccer season stands at its halfway point, Dye said the mark symbolizes a turning point for the team that will face most of its Mountain State Athletic Conference lineup in coming contests.

“I think we’ll do well for the rest of the season, but we do have some very tough opponents coming up. We have to be prepared for them,” she said.

The entire team has proven energetic and exciting to watch, but as always, there have been some standouts during the first half of the season.

“Jessica Inman is one of our captains. Last year, she played infielder for us, and this year, she’s moved to sweeper, so she’s obviously very important to our team,” Dye said.

Tori Billips is another player that garnered extra recognition from the coach.

“She’s a play maker, a very smart player,” Dye said.

Up next, the team will play Shady Spring, Sept. 18, beginning at 6 p.m., in Princeton.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.

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