photo by Marcus Frazier

Cathedral’s Kate Lee Laird keeps the ball away from Lady Cobra Kayla Case Tuesday evening. The Lady Green Wave beat Wesson 2-1.

Kirkwood's late goal lifts Lady Wave to win over Wesson

By Patrick Jones | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, December 11, 2007

NATCHEZ — Maddie Kirkwood’s second goal of the game with just under nine minutes to go in the second half proved to be the game-winner as the Cathedral Lady Green Wave stunned the Wesson Lady Cobras 2-1 Monday night at D’Evereux Stadium.

Kirkwood got the ball just over the fingertips of Wesson goalkeeper Ceara Sturgis and just under the crossbar to give the Lady Green Wave the lead.

Cathedral’s defense, as well as some key saves by goalkeeper Lissa McManus, preserved the win.

“Maddie was having a little bit of a problem pulling the trigger (earlier in the season,” Lady Green Wave head coach David Gaudé said. “But starting with the Tylertown game when she scored all those goals, she’s gained a lot of confidence.”

That confidence showed when Kirkwood scored the game’s first goal at the sixth minute of the second half after a couple of deflections in front of Sturgis that finally broke a scoreless game.

But Wesson answered with about 15 minutes to play when Trystan Eschete broke through the defense and kicked the ball past McManus to tie the game at 1-1.

“They just had that one short lapse in defense. It cost us,” Gaudé said. “They waited for that opportunity and they got it. Wesson is a good team. But our defense didn’t relax.”

And perhaps the one player for Cathedral that kept Wesson from getting even more scoring opportunities was Brooks Turner, who made several outstanding plays throughout the game.

“Brooks is probably one of the best defenders we’ve ever had,” Gaudé said. “That was a big win for us.”

For a while it appeared that the only goals made during the game would be the two made at halftime. Both teams had scoring opportunities in the first half, but McManus and Sturgis made several key saves to keep the score at 0-0 at halftime.

Christie Jackson and Ashton Richardson each had opportunities to give Wesson (6-2) the early lead, but McManus thwarted those chances in the first three minutes.

“I think we played exceptionally well. I thought we could’ve played better,” said Wesson left forward Raiven Coleman, who missed the game due to an injury. “But they got the better end this game.”

Joanna David and Madeline Jeansonne then tried to give Cathedral the lead at the eighth minute of the first half only to come up empty. Sturgis made a few more saves later on in the first half.

In the varsity boys game, Cathedral rolled to a 5-0 win over Wesson. Cathedral had an astonishing 42 shots on goal in the game. Hunter Foster and Chris Griffiths each scored two goals and Andrew Walker had one goal for the Green Wave (5-4).

“We pretty much dominated from the get-go,” Cathedral head coach Rick Simons said. “We scored in the first 30 seconds. We held them to just eight shots. We have a few things to work one, like communication.”