It was a busy week for the Tyler Consolidated girls varsity soccer team, playing three games on the road. Of the three, the Lady Knights were not able to secure a win, falling to Wheeling Central, Lincoln and Indian Creek.

On Aug. 30 at Wheeling Central, the Lady Knights started off well, holding the Maroon Knights to only one goal in the first half, putting the score at 1-0 at the break. In the second, formation and communication break downs caused a few miscues on the team, allowing Central to add four more goals to their score.

“Should’a, could’a, would’a,” said head coach of the Silver and Black, Cliff Warner. “We should have played better, could have taken more shots on goal, and we would have given them a better, more competitive game.”

On Sept. 1 the team traveled to Shinston to take on the Lincoln County Lady Panthers, coming home with the 5-0 loss.

“They play good ball over there,” the coach said. “Their players play a lot of club ball, and it shows. Those kids know soccer.”

The Knight junior varsity team debuted at Lincoln for their first game of the season, falling to their opponents, 6-0.

“I know the score was lopsided, but it was the first time some our girls got to see live soccer in a game situation,” Warner said. “They were nervous and scared, but once the game got started, they settled down a bit. We had an excellent effort from Kylee Yeater in goal as a first time goal keeper in a game situation.”

“We’re very young and our inexperience showed. They had to much game experience for us to compete with. Overall though, the young kids worked well together as a team and I was very pleased with their effort.”

The Lady Knights traveled to Indian Creek on Saturday, taking on the Redskins in humid, 98 degree weather. The Silver and Black wound up with the loss, 1-0 after holding their opponents scoreless for the majority of the game.

“This was our best game to date this season,” Warner said. “Even though we lost, our team played very well and played truly together for the first time this season. We passed well, communicated well and overall played a very good game I thought.”

“Goal keeper Sophie Kinnard made the play of the day on a penalty kick, I don’t know how she got it, but she did, it was a textbook save, and it kept them from adding to their score. We took a lot of open shots on goal.”

“I can’t say enough about how well we played together as a team in this game. It made all the difference in our attitudes and how we played. Hopefully, this will be a sign of the way the rest of the year will continue. I hope so, because if it is, we’re on to something here.”

“The entire team was very enthusiastic, and we all felt good about this one. At the beginning of the season we said we needed to play like 28 girls with one heart, and today, we did just that.”

With the humidity and heat hindering both teams, coach Warner said he had nothing but praise from parents of members of his team, as well as fans attending the game. “The team and I would like to thank the parents for showing so much support on Saturday. They brought canopies and let us use them, brought water and stayed the course with us. It meant so much to the girls and to me. I’d like to thank each of them personally for being there for us.”

Tyler Consolidated will have a much needed rest this week, hopefully to get some kids healed and rested in order to take on the Lady Golden Bears at Oak Glen on Saturday.