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closeThe best offense for Leesville Road’s girls’ soccer team came when Sanderson kicked the ball out of bounds deep in its own territory.
Sanderson allowed Leesville Road to have 11 corner kicks Wednesday night. The Pride scored on two of them. That was enough for Leesville Road to secure a 3-1 victory.
What surprised coach Paul Dinkenor was that it took the Pride longer than usual to score. Leesville Road trailed for much of the first half.
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Pride’s Gentry scores 100th goal Leesville Road senior girls soccer standout Caroline Gentry scored the 100th and 101st goals of her career Monday in a 3-2 victory over Broughton. “Caroline has obliterated all of the school records at Leesville,” Pride coach Paul Dinkenor said. “She was the state player of the year last year and is playing even better this season. She is having a super season.” The N.C. State commitment has 21 goals and 7 assists for the 16-1-1 team. The Pride tied Southern Pines Pinecrest 0-0 in March and lost a Cap Eight 4A game to Millbrook, 2-1. – Tim Stevens
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N&O Soccer Rankings Green Hope (1)15-0-0 Millbrook (2)15-0-0 Leesville Road (3)16-1-1 Carrboro (5) 11-0-2 Chapel Hill (4) 12-3-1 Cary (7) 10-3-1 West Johnston (9) 14-3-0 Cardinal Gibbons (10) 5-2-4 East Chapel Hill (11) 8-4-3 Raleigh Charter (12) 9-1-0 Holly Springs (8) 8-5-2 Sanderson (NR) 6-6-4
Sanderson started by keeping eight players on defense to limit Leesville Road’s scoring changes.
“Your temptation is to just bang the ball in the middle,” Dinkenor said. “Once we stopped doing that, and we drew them out, we played really well.”
The Spartans put pressure on the Pride by moving the ball methodically up the field. Then, Sanderson produced its goal in the 22nd minute.
Sanderson forward Taylor Wood went to the sideline and put the ball on the ground for her unusual flip throw-in. Wood’s throw, which went over 40 feet, landed inside the penalty box where forward Grace Todd headed it into the net.
“It’s chaotic,” Leesville Road forward Caroline Gentry said of the play. “It seems so easy to win the ball but then it’s not because there are so many people in the box.”
Leesville Road (16-1-1, 11-1 Cap Eight 4A) responded and gained momentum, just before halftime in the 38th minute.
Midfielder Courtney Johnson found Gentry near the back of the post on the Pride’s fifth corner kick. Gentry’s header went pass Sanderson goalkeeper Kaylyn Braga.
Bayley Rigsbee, a midfielder, said the Pride look for Gentry on most corner kicks.
“Every time I’m right behind, and it usually works out,” Rigsbee said. “That goal really calmed us down.”
In the 53rd minute, Rigsbee found the ball near her right foot after a corner kick by midfielder Nicole Park. Among the crowd in the penalty box, Rigsbee slid her shot into the net.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on set plays,” Dinkenor said. “We want to have a lot options on corners and it nice to have Bayley stick the ball in.”
The Pride is now on a seven-game winning streak. They also remain one game behind undefeated Millbrook in the conference standings with two conference games left.
The last time Sanderson (6-6-4, 5-5-2) loss a match, it was to Millbrook on March 21. Before Wednesday, the Spartans had won four of their last five matches.
Sanderson did have a few opportunities to tie the match in the second half.
Gentry though put the match out of reach in the 72nd minute when she scored her second goal the way she normally does: She just outran the Spartans before taking her shot from 20 yards away.
“It was really tough because they have so many defenders,” Gentry said. “It took time, but we figured it out.”
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