Published: October 03, 2008 11:26 pm            

Pulaski salvages 1-1 tie with Lady Pats on ‘Senior Night’

Somerset — For the Lady Maroon senior soccer players Keelin Cunningham, Natalie Pitman, Emily Prather, Marina Price and Jordan Richardson, Thursday night was a memorable night as they were honored in the school’s annual ‘Senior Night’ festivities.

But for Pitman, it was an extra memorable night as she scored the game-tying penalty kick goal in the 77th minute in a 1-1 Lady Maroon deadlock with Lincoln County.

Trailing 1-0 for most of the second half and missing on 16 shot attempts for the game, the Lady Maroons’ hopes of a happy ‘Senior Night’ was fading with every tick of the clock. But with only 3:41 left in the game, Prather sent a corner kick from the right side high into the box which was headed by Richardson. The Richardson header was on frame, but was deflected Lincoln County keeper Brittany Gooch. However, Gooch’s blocked caromed off her teammate’s hands, resulting in a penalty kick for Pulaski.

Pitman drilled a low liner to the right side of the net on the PK to salvage a Pulaski tie and a ‘Senior Night’ happy ending.

“Natalie (Pitman) scored the penalty kick which saved it from being a loss, but we really wanted the win that would have put us at 9-9 on the season after going 2-15 last year,” Pulaski coach Brian Elliott said. “So we have already won four times the amount of games we won last year. So, that is quite an improvement. All our seniors played well on their final night here.”

For the game, Pulaski had shot attempts by Lonie Howard, Olivia Duncan, Ciara Coots, Taylor Mounce, Shelbi Wilburn (2), Pitman (2), Prather (3) and Richardson (4). Pulaski keeper Keelin Cunningham had nine saves in the game.

“I felt like we had a ton of scoring opportunities and just couldn’t score,” Elliott stated. “We had a sickness bug going around, had some injuries and, there in the second half, I had 3 or 4 subs in the game that had not seen a lot of varsity time all year. We are thin right now, but that is the way it goes.”

Lincoln County scored the game’s only other goal in the 46th minute. Lady Patriots’ Jessica Upchurch sent a long ball high into the box that was headed by a Pulaski defender, but once the ball fell to the ground Lincoln’s Laura Estridge scored at-goal to give her team a 1-0 lead.

“I thought we dominated the game,” Elliott said. “Lincoln County had some fast breaks. They played a lot of boom balls, sent the ball long and they got us on one of them.”

Pulaski (8-9-1) will play Somerset in the first round of the 30th District Tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at Somerset High School’s Clara Morrow Field.

        

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