Elizabeth Shepherd

The Tyler Consolidated High School Lady Knight soccer team fell to two opponents this week, but have continued to improve their level of play with each outing.

On Aug. 29 the Silver Ladies took on Wheeling Central at home, falling to the Maroon Knights 6-0.

“We didn’t get the win, but the girls did a good job in this game,” said head coach Matt Kinnard.

“They are seeing that practice and conditioning is paying off, they’re understanding more about the game and are working to do better.”

At home on Saturday, the Lady Knights welcomed Weirton Madonna to Burgbacher Field. Taking the loss, 5-1, Consolidated again showed even more improvement over the past week.

“We’re making progress,” Kinnard said. “Slowly but surely. Last year, this team defeated us 11-0 and we weren’t going to let that happen again, and we didn’t. Several players stepped up and made a difference.”

Goal keeper Sophie Kinnard had 14 saves at the goal and freshman Vanessa Templeton had seven for the Silver.

The only goal for the home team came off the foot of junior Haleigh Smith with an assist by Kinnard.

“We’re doing better, but we’re not content,” the coach said. “The girls came out more aggressive in the second half and saw how much of a difference that made in the game. We’ll be expecting to see more of that for the rest of the season.”

The Lady Knights will host Steubenville on Thursday and Trinity on Saturday.