If the other team does not score, your team will not lose.
After proving this philosophy time and again on the soccer field this season, the Indianola Academy Lady Colonels are now only two victories away from claiming the Division III State Championship.
Owning a 12-1-1 record following their seventh shutout of the season – a 2-0 home-field decision over Discovery Christian School of Florence in Tuesday’s opening round of the Division III State Playoffs – the IA squad returns to their field today for a semi-final match.
Serving as the competition today at 4 p.m. will be Manchester Academy of Yazoo City. The Lady Mavericks earned their trip to IA after defeating Columbus Christian School in their own opening round match.
Should the Lady Colonels win today’s match, they will play for the state crown this Saturday against the winner of today’s other semifinal game pitting Laurel Christian School against Kirk Academy of Grenada.
This Saturday’s title game will be played at Jackson Prep and is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
“I am proud of the girls”, said IA Head Coach Alex Deason. “They are very coachable and are playing through some injuries in order to get the job done and to get themselves to this point of the season.”
The statistics this group of 20 girls have accumulated are impressive. In addition to the seven shutouts recorded, no team has scored more than one goal in any one game against the IA defense.
Offensively, the Lady Colonels have thus far outscored their competition 38-7 over the course of their 14 games played. Adept at sharing the scoring opportunities, those 38 points have been recorded by 12 different IA players.
In their recent playoff win over Discovery Christian School, while defensively shutting out the Lady Lions, the Lady Colonels opened their scoring in the first half when Anna Gresham Veazey angled a kick into the corner of the goal.
The final score of the day occurred in the second half when Lydia Williamson found the back of the goal with her own kick.
In other action played last Wednesday, the IA squad completed their regular season schedule with a 2-0 road win over Manchester Academy.
Recording the initial goal of the game was Fran Veazey, who was fed an excellent pass from her sister Anna Gresham Veazey.
It would be Hannah Aycock who would post the game’s final point when her middle-of-the-goal kick also made its way past the Lady Mavericks’ goalie.
