It has been a long season for the Lady Knight soccer team at Tyler Consolidated, a season with only one win and a whole lot of games that could have “went either way”. The Lady Knights finished up the ’09 season last week in the semi-final round of the Sectional tournament. The team faced off against Magnolia, and came out on the short end of the 3-0 score.

“We played well,” said head coach of the Consolidated team, Cliff Warner. “We just didn’t get the job done. We had a few opportunities, but nothing panned out. Some of our underclassmen really stepped up though, and that was good to see.”

“In all honesty, it was kinda tough for us there at the end of the season, our games were few and far between those last couple of weeks. It seemed that all we did was practice, and that got old fast. It was hard to get the kids up for the game, when it had been about a week since our last game.”

Warner, his first season as a head coach complete, said he was sorry to season end. “I’d like to start all over again, right now,” he said. “There are so many things I would have done differently. I’d just like to start again.”

With that being said, the coach is looking forward to next fall when the 2010 season will get underway. “We’re losing three very special seniors from the team, and I hate to think of starting a new season without them, but that’s part of the game,” he said.

Seniors Haley Acree, Nichole Stinespring and Tara Jones will graduate in the Spring, leaving three large holes in the Consolidated line-up.

“Haley came to practice and just got things started without anybody telling her to,” Warner said. “She got the kids to warm up and got them ready to play. Nichole was our finisher, always has been. When somebody would take a shot at the goal, we were able to count on Nichole to follow all the way through with the ball. And Tara, she is a great half-back on defense. She’s a complete team player, never the type of player to be all out for herself, she was always thinking of the team.”

“All three of these girls have been good role models and great leaders for the team. They’ll sure be missed.”

Minus the seniors, the coach said that 13 players on the team have said that they will return for the next season, including returning letter winners Meggie Warner, Maddie Schlabowskie, Emily Wildman and Jacki Clark.

“Those 13 and maybe a few more here and there, plus hopefully a few incoming freshmen, I think we’ll be okay,” he said. “In fact, I think we’ll be able to be stronger next year, we’ll be ahead of where we started this year.”

“I’m already looking forward to it.”