By Ted Waddell
ELDRED — November 2, 2001 – Apparently the home team Lady Yellow Jackets had more on their minds Wednesday afternoon than playing soccer, as they were defeated 1-0 by the S.S. Seward Lady Spartans in a Section IX Class D Semifinal match.
In a hotly contested match, thirdseeded Seward (7-10-2) scored the only goal of the afternoon at 34:28 in the second half as Tricia Dugan put one into the net from about 15 yards out on an assist by Kelly Wallace.
Second-seeded Eldred (7-7-2) outshot Seward by an 11-9 margin, but could not put the ball past Lady Spartan keeper Melissa Oliphant, who had four saves on the afternoon.
Seward managed two corner kicks in the match, while Eldred had only one.
Eldred goalie Casey Williams had four saves in the match.
“It was definitely a hard fought game by both teams,” said Lady Spartans coach Chris Knittel. “Eldred didn’t want to give an inch out there.”
“I thought it was a mostly clean game. . . (but) there were a couple of ‘shots’ on both sides,” he added.
According to Knittel, he thought the teams had scoring opportunities, and “both keepers came up with some big saves.”
With the win, Seward moves on to face Chester in today’s Class D championship match.
“We got a slow start in September, but we peaked at the right time,” Knittel said. “It’s been a good year.”
Eldred coach Laura Schneider said she thought her team did “pretty well” against the Lady Spartans, although they started to stall in the middle of the second half.
“I’m happy with my whole team,” said Schneider. “My girls did very well this season. We had a great team.”
Although Eldred will be losing eight seniors to graduation, 11 players are scheduled to return next season (a junior and 10 sophomores). The Lady Yellow Jacket seniors who played in their final match include Charlene French, Lindsey Giuffrida, Kara Leek, Amanda Pierce, Rebecca Ryman, Aimee Schneider, Ashley Schneider and Williams.